FF7: Another Story
by MiraLake
Summary: What if Zack survived the ShinRa army? What if an amnesic young woman, who has a deep history with ShinRa, joins Avalanche? See how the events of FF7 would roll out if these two events actually occured. Will Aeris still love Zack? Will Cloud regain his true memories? Will the young woman stay loyal to Avalanche, or turn her back on them to find out who she is?
1. Avalanche begins

**Hi guys. This is something that I've been wanting to write for awhile, so I don't how it's going to turn out exactly. But it's basically the story of FF7 (with the exceptions of a few changed up dialogues and sequences), with Zack and my OC. If it goes well, I might actually continue this to the end. IF not...then whatever. I'll at least try.**

 **Anyways, I don't own anything here except for the story and my OC. Everything else belongs to Square Enix. Please review, like and enjoy!**

* * *

 **Disc 1 (Midgar): Avalanche Begins**

Barret, Biggs, Wedge, Jessie, and Cloud split up and ran in separate directions after the explosion of the mako reactor. Cloud cried hastily after Barret, demanding for his money. But Barret just told him to wait until they got back to their base in Sector 7 of the Slums.

Frustrated, the ex-SOLDIER first class ran up the stairs and after the rest of the Avalanche gang.

In the streets of Midgar, people ran about, frantic about the explosion that just happened. Everyone was in such a panic that nobody bothered to see a nearby young woman in a long pink dress holding a basket of flowers was accidentally knocked over by the crowd of people.

Cloud was however, was nice enough to stop and give her a hand.

He gazed at the colourful blossoms in the girl's basket, "Those are nice flowers. You don't see a lot of flowers here in Midgar."

He admired as he looked at the flower girl's basket.

The flower girl smiled brightly and quickly took out one.

"Oh do you like them? They only cost one gil," she explained.

Cloud searched his back pocket for some gil and handed it over to the flower girl. She gave him another smile.

"Thank you so much," she replied before leaving the area.

Cloud followed after her until he reached the next street and ran across the entire sector towards the train station.

* * *

In Sector 2 of Midgar, next to mako reactor 1, a young woman frantically tries to look for a way through the large panicked crowd of people.

She carried her young daughter close to her body, as she looks around for any way out of the sector. Her daughter looks to her in curiosity.

"Mama, where are we going?" She asked innocently.

The young woman looked down to her daughter and smiled, trying to stay calm.

"We're going to um...somewhere we belong, Allie dear."

She said as she ran through openings between the crowd, and avoided any contact with the nearby infantrymen who had come to inspect the explosion.

Not liking the answer she was given, Allie asked her mother again.

"And where is that?" She asked.

This time, the young woman didn't look at her daughter. Instead, she looked to the distance. There was an opening among the crowd of people. From there, she could see the exit out of this sector.

As she stared, she answered her daughter's question.

"Somewhere Allie...somewhere that mommy remembers."

* * *

Cloud jumps onto the train that just came out of the tunnel to avoid a potential confrontation with the ShinRa infantrymen he just bumped into.

 _Perfect timing_.

He thought as he landed on the roof of the train, which then disappeared down the tunnel that leads down to the slums.

Inside the caboose of the train, the four Avalanche members stood in their own little space. They thought about what they had just done, and what had happened to that blonde haired mercenary they had just hired to help them do this job.

The young man with the bandanna, Biggs, started the conversation.

"That Cloud...do you think he made it?" He asked with some concern.

The large dark skinned man with a gun that replaced his right arm, Barret, gave him a glare and grunt.

"Heh. Why should I care? I ain't in charge of anybody that I deem not worthy of me being in charge of."

He hit the nearby crate he's leaning upon. Biggs' cousin, Jessie and the plump young man, Wedge, near her, both lower their heads and sigh.

"Cloud..." Jessie quietly mumbled.

Just then, some footsteps was heard above their heads. The next thing that happened was the door to the caboose being forced open and the blonde young man that was just being talked about somersaulted his way in.

All four people inside gasped upon sight of Cloud.

Barret however, walked over to the man and scowled at him.

"Whatcha think you're doing? Just come waltzin' in here and making a big scene."

He glared at the blonde mercenary. Cloud just shrugged his shoulders.

"Whatever. Just what I always do," he replied, clearly undeterred by Barret's method of intimidation.

Barret shook his head in annoyance at the blonde's cocky attitude. He then walked over to the door that connected the caboose to the main train before them.

Turning around to the company, he told them to hurry up as he jumped across the gap that separated the caboose from the last train cart.

One by one, each member of Avalanche took their turn and jumped into the train car in front of them.

Biggs went first and gave Cloud a smile before jumping.

"Hey. I'm glad that you're alive blondie. Hope you'll be a regular member soon."

Wedge went next, also giving a Cloud something nice to say.

"Thanks for helping us out today. Even if Barret doesn't agree, I think you're a pretty trustworthy guy." He said.

Jessie is the last one left in the caboose with Cloud. She went over the opened door of the train and immediately closed it. Then she walked up to Cloud, closely inspecting him.

"Oh Cloud, you got soot all over your face."

She took out an old rag to wipe away most of the soot and debris away from the young man's face. She put away the rag and went up to the door that exits the caboose. Then she suddenly turned around and flashed a grateful smile.

"Oh and hey Cloud...thanks for helping me back there, when I was stuck. I really appreciate it."

Cloud gave her a shrug and nod in return. Jessie accepts that and turns around, jumping to the next car.

Finally, Cloud moves on and joins the rest of his teammates in the train car in front of him.

* * *

The young woman from Sector 2 has managed to make it past the crowd of people and towards the train station just in time.

The last train was about to depart from the area and onto the next few sectors before making its way down to the slums below the large city in the sky.

She is standing near the map of the Midgar railway system, holding her sleeping daughter close to her and gently rocking her back and forth.

She brushed a few strands of her daughter's blonde hair out of her face. The colour greatly contrasted against the woman's own dark brown hair.

A thousand thoughts and questions races through her head as she gazes at her daughter's peaceful, sleeping face.

"Sigh. I'm so sorry Allie. I wish I knew more. But I'm just as new to this world as you are. I don't even know where to start," she quietly says to herself.

The young woman looks to the railway system, then to the map of the Midgar slums on the wall. She looks at the map's legend, searching for any hospitable places to stay at tonight.

She scanned across the map, "Lets see now...um...there doesn't seem to be much places down there huh?"

Looking around her, she sees a middle-aged man in a large suit reading a newspaper standing nearby. She turns to him.

"Uh, excuse me, sir?" She asked politely.

The man lowered his newspaper a bit to see the face of the young woman who just spoke to him.

"Well, hello there miss. Is there anything I can do for you?" He asked, rather flamboyantly.

The young woman nodded and looked towards the map of the slums.

"Um yes. I was um, wondering if there's any good inns nearby that costs less than...maybe 20 gil? You see, I need a place for my little girl here," she explained, gesturing to little Allie all bundled up with an oversized jacket in her arms.

The man raised an eyebrow.

"Eh? A bit young for a mother, I'll say...no offense or anything. Anyways, there aren't actually any _good_ places to stay the night. You can sleep 'most anywhere, if you can pay for it. But I doubt you'd want your daughter anywhere near those areas."

The young woman looked a bit exasperated. Clearly, this man was more interested in just talking, than actually providing good aid.

"Alright, I get it. Can you at least tell me which places would be the most available?" She asked.

The man shook his head and rubbed his eyes, as if this conversation was starting to bore him.

He sighed, "Listen lady, I ain't wasting my time with some banged up college girl who made some bad choices in her life. But since you don't seem to be from around here, I'll tell you that your best bet is anyplace within Sector 7. That's all."

With that, the man returned to reading his newspaper as red lights suddenly started flashing. The young woman panicked as she looked around.

"What's going on?"

The man smirked, "Whoa, you really aren't from around here! This is just a security check area, don't sweat it unless you're someone who's got a large criminal record on ShinRa."

Suddenly, the lights stopped flashing and everything went back to normal. The young woman returns the man's previous smirk.

"Well, looks like I'm not a crook after all."

* * *

In a large run down wooden house in Sector 4 of the slums, a young man with spiky black hair wakes up from his long nap. The door to his bedroom open and in walked an old man healer. He went up next to the bed.

"How are you feeling today Zack?" He asked as he helped Zack get off the bed.

He held out a large black sweatshirt for Zack to put on. The young man with spiky black hair grinned from ear to ear.

"Feeling much better, thanks to you Mr. Ichus. Really."

He got up from the bed and walked to an open area in the bedroom. Letting out a soft sigh, Zack bent down to do a few squats, but immediately fell to his bottom from a shock of pain in his abdomen.

Mr. Ichus reacted quickly and caught Zack before his whole body hit the ground.

The elder man scolded the ex-SOLDIER, "What have I told you? Don't put so much pressure on your core. Wait a few weeks or even months for those wounds to heal alright? You're lucky that I've found you on my way back from Kalm. You were half-dead, young man. You had all those bullets in your chest."

Zack shudders at the memory of his final fight with the ShinRa army. He shook his head and looked to the ground, trying to forget about what happened that day.

The day he almost died...but he didn't.

He muttered under his breath, "I was so close. Midgar was right in front of me. I could've felt the freedom I was going to get. But then I let it slip out of my grip...I almost lost that day. Almost."

Zack slowly began to stand up from the ground, groaning a bit from the pain in his abdomen. Mr. Ichus quickly went over to fetch the SOLDIER first class uniform he stitched up for Zack.

The black piece of clothing almost looked perfectly perfect again. It was like as if the ShinRa army never attacked Zack in the first place!

But no matter how many stitches Mr. Ichus used to fix the uniform, it will never erase the fact that it went through hell and back. Same goes for the wearer of the uniform.

Mr. Ichus handed Zack his old clothing, "Here's your uniform. But before I give it to you, I want to ask something. Why did you come back to Midgar? You knew that you and your unconscious friend, Cloud was it? Were wanted dead by ShinRa. Yet you came home anyways. Why?"

Zack smiled as he took the uniform from Mr. Ichus and went over to the nearby stalls to change into it. He easily slipped out of his soft night clothes, borrowed from Mr. Ichus, and into his ShinRa issue SOLDIER first class uniform.

Zack closed his eyes to reflect on the events that happened to him ever since he began wearing this uniform.

He then answered Mr. Ichus's question, "Because. Because there's someone here, waiting for me."

Zack emerged from the stalls, all dressed and looking perfectly healthy. Apart from the bandages that covered his chest and stomach underneath his clothes, Zack looked like he has never been in a fight for the past couple of weeks.

"She's been waiting for four years for me to come home. And here I am."

Zack reached over to grab the sword Mr. Ichus decided to let him have after he gave up his buster sword to Cloud, when he was on the brink of death. The sword was long and beautifully curved with a strong handle to prevent any slips.

Zack wondered how on gaia did Mr. Ichus get such a sword, as he attached onto his back. Turning one last time to Mr. Ichus, he gave him a friendly grin.

"Mr. Ichus, I don't know how to say this, I mean, you saved my life. You saved me from what could've been the end of my story. But now, I'm going to have to keep on living. Yep, and facing the everyday fear of dying again. So I don't know whether to thank you, or to hit you.

But...it's because of you...that I get a second chance to make everything in my life right...so, I'll see you later. And thank you."

Zack meant it. Every single word he said.

Mr. Ichus nodded at the young man who's been living with him for about a week or so.

"You go young man, I shall give you the best of my wishes. If I believe in them that is."

* * *

At Tifa's bar, the members of the Avalanche bomb mission met together down in the underground base for a group meeting. Cloud stayed on the ground floor for a while with Tifa, the kind, strong, and beautiful bartender of Seventh Heaven and his childhood friend.

It was because of Tifa, that Cloud joined this little gang of eco-terrorists. Cloud gave the flower that he bought from the flower girl he met up on the plate to Tifa.

"Oh thank you Cloud," she gushed. "It smells wonderful, maybe I should fill the whole place with flowers."

Cloud nodded at her, glad to see a familiar face around these parts.

Tifa then encourages him to go down to the meeting with Barret and the others as she quickly cleans up the bar and washes away all the glasses and other utensils with the help of Marlene, Barret's young adoptive daughter.

Down in the basement, Cloud and Barret gets into a little tiff between Cloud's loyalties for either Avalanche or ShinRa. Actually, it wasn't a little tiff, but a rather big one. Barret nearly charged head on at Cloud. Lukcily, Biggs managed to hold the man back.

Cloud was about to storm away when Tifa suddenly comes down to cool the argument.

"Wait Cloud! Please don't go!" She cried.

"Let him go, Tifa! Looks like he still misses ShinRa!" Barret spat.

Cloud turned around to glare at the leader of Avlanche. His mako eyes shone brilliantly.

"Shut up! I don't care for ShinRa. But don't get me wrong, I don't care about Avalanche or saving the Planet for that matter! Goodbye!"

With that, Cloud went back upstairs with Tifa running right behind him. On the first floor, he was about to go out the door when Tifa stops him.

"Cloud wait! I want to tell you something. Join our fight. The Planet is dying. Slowly yeah, but surely. We can make a difference by fighting back against ShinRa!" She begged desperately.

Cloud sighed and just shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Tifa. But it just ain't my style. Now, I'm sure you'll find a better candidate than I can ever be. You don't need someone like me on the team."

Cloud turns around and attempts to leave again. But Tifa immediately stomps her foot to regain his attention and shouts after him.

"Is this how you're going to be like? Just walk out there, ignoring your childhood friend?"

That got Cloud's attention.

"How can you say something like?" He asked incredulously.

Tifa softens her tone, putting her hands behind her back.

"You forgot the promise too. Didn't you?" She asked.

Cloud shook his head.

"No, I never did. I promised to become a hero and rescue you when you're in trouble. But I can't do that, I never became one," he said.

Tifa gently reached to him, a sympathetic look on her face.

"But you got your childhood dream right? You joined SOLDIER."

She smiled warmly at him. Cloud smiled back at her. She was always so good at finding the right things to say to him.

"Yeah, you're right..." he replied.

Tifa nodded at him.

"Alright. Now go back down there and apologize to everyone for me ok? I'll finish cleaning up here."

Cloud immediately walked back down, a bit reluctantly, but he did it anyway. Tifa laughed to herself as she remembers the many times that Cloud would get into fights back when they were children at Niblheim.

"Sigh. Same old Cloud. Just different...not that it makes sense or anything."

She wiped the round table near the window with a large gray cloth. Marlene is busy behind the bar, dusting the floors and making sure all the glasses are all in the right places.

Tifa smiled at how cute Marlene looked when she tries to help do adult chores.

Suddenly, she hears the sound of a young girl crying outside of the bar and looks through the window to see the silhouette of two figures standing on the ground outside of Seventh Heaven. Concerned, Tifa puts down the cloth and walks outside to see what's going on.

"Hello? Is everything alright here?" She asked as she walked up to the source of the sound.

Standing before Tifa was a young woman who looked like she was about in her early twenties. She wore a deep magenta sleeveless kimono that goes down to her knees and has matching arm sleeves. The woman had deep brown hair tied into a messy updo with loose strands of hair framing a very attractive face, and a white headband with loose bows at either side of her head. In her arms is a crying young girl who had light blonde hair, but shared a similarity in terms of looks to the young woman.

The girl wore a light blue jumpsuit and large gray jacket. The woman rocked her gently and eventually, stopped the girl from crying altogether. Tifa stopped before the pair.

"Hello there. Is there anything I can do for you?" She asked kindly.

The young woman looked at Tifa with sad eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry for causing a ruckus in this area. I just wanted to look for a place tonight to stay at," she explained.

Tifa smiled brightly, "Well, why don't you come with me! I mean, well, my bar isn't exactly an inn, but there's extra rooms and they're accommodating."

The young woman's face lit up.

"Oh thank you so much. And here I thought, that nobody was this kind. How much is it for the night?" She asked.

Tifa looked from the young woman to the litte girl in her arms.

"Nothing. It's for free. Don't worry about it," she assured.

Tifa assured as she led the pair into the bar, where the members of Avalanche returned to the first floor.

Barret and Cloud seemed to have gotten past their differences now, but as soon as they saw the young woman enter the bar with her sleeping daughter, they were in shock.

Tifa calmed everybody down and explained the situation to them.

"We need to be hospitable to those in need. Just please understand guys," she said.

Barret nodded in agreement.

"She has a little girl. It's completely understandable. You can stay for free."

The young woman shook her head.

"Oh no. Is there anything I can do to repay you guys? I mean if you're in a fight with anyone, I can help. My memory isn't the best right now, but I know for a fact that I'm formidable with all kinds of weaponry and hand-to-hand combat."

Barret raised a brow. He nodded and put a hand to his chin, genuinely considering that offer.

"Actually, that's not a bad idea. We'll inform you more of this later, but first thing's first. Introductions need to be said. I'm Barret Wallace, leader of Avalanche."

"Tifa Lockhart. I'm the owner of the Seventh Heaven."

"Biggs Trinity. I'm in charge of mission outlines."

"I'm his cousin, Jessie. I specialize in all sorts of technology."

"I'm just Wedge Kilo. I'm new."

"Cloud Strife. Ex-SOLDIER first class. I'm newer than Wedge."

The young woman beamed at the names of the people standing before her. _This is it. This is a chance to find out about myself, with the help of others by my side._

"This here is my daughter, Allie. And me, well, I think...maybe...oh yeah. I'm Chorale."

* * *

 **So that's the first chapter. Like it? Hate it? If you have any suggestions, please say it. Other than that, I got a pretty good idea of where this story is heading. However, chapters will take me quite awhile to post due to me having to worry about high school and my piano lessons at the same time. But I will work on the story everyday. So next chapter won't be up until either next month or as far as the summer. And by the way for those of you who don't know how my OC's name is** **pronounced, it's like this: _ke-ral._**


	2. New Member

**Haha. Looks like I had more time on my hands than expected. Finished this chapter before the summer hit! Just a quick explanation on what may happen through the entire story. So most of the narrative of the original game would go as planned, though I would be adding some changes and some extra scenes here and there so it would make sense, considering that there are two characters that weren't in the original story.**

 **Don't worry Zerith shippers, Zack and Aerith will be reunited...just not in this chapter...or maybe the next one...(heh heh, not trying to be mean or anything...)Oh and as for Cloud's memories, well, I'm thinking of maybe having his memory restored when he meets Zack. (I mean Zack knows the truth about what really happened and all...so it would make more sense if Zack just told Cloud what really happened that night of the Nibelheim fire.)**

 **Now just some quick facts about my OC, Chorale. First and foremost, she is a mixed race character. Half-Asian, half-Caucasian. (Don't ask why. She was inspired by a friend of mine whose family tree is made up of all sorts of races.) Second of all, she does indeed have a deep relation with ShinRa, so she would seem familiar to anyone who works there. Be it Zack, the Turks, the Board of Directors, some long-time working employees...etc.**

 **Anyways, that should tie up about everything. Now without further ado, lets begin the chapter. Disclaimer: I don't own anything here except for my parts of the story and my OC. Everything else belongs to Square Enix.**

* * *

 **Disc 1 (Midgar): New Member**

The members of Avalanche look at her with blank faces.

"That's all?" Cloud asked.

"Shush! Have you got no respect at all?" Barret sternly scolded. Chorale laughed a bit and shook her head.

"No, it's alright. Really. You see, I don't exactly know my last name," she explained in a carefree voice, smiling.

But the smile on her face just stayed there, like superglue.

Tifa, full of concern, went over to her side and gently took Allie out of her arms.

"It's ok, I'll take her up to one of the empty rooms. We can all continue to talk down here."

Tifa carried Allie up the shallow stairs of the bar towards the guest rooms. Cloud turned to Chorale, who was still stuck in that smile, and gestured for her to sit down at the nearby round table.

"Well, I'm sorry about before," Cloud began.

"Oh no! It's really alright. This whole thing is my fault. Really. I'm sorry to have to get you guys involved," Chorale stuttered.

Barret took a seat in front of her.

"Why? What do you mean exactly? 'It's your fault?' What happened to you?" He asked.

Chorale took a shallow breath and looked down at her hands.

"To be honest. I don't know that either. My mind...it's like a book full of empty pages. No...more like that the words are all written in invisible ink. But the thing is, I seem to be able to remember these tiny little details in my life just fine. But they don't make any sense to me at all, not unless I can remember the actual important memories."

"This is a severe case of amnesia," Jessie suddenly said.

"Do you have memory at all of maybe what happened to you before you lost your memories? Perhaps, you were seriously injured or maybe hypnotized..."

"Or maybe experimented on."

Tifa interrupted as she appeared from the stairs and walked over to the table. Cloud suddenly had a very serious expression on his face.

"If you were experimented on. I pray that it wasn't one by that crazy gray-haired scientist," he mumbled.

Tifa shudders at the mention of that scientist.

"Please don't remind me of that guy. I still remember catching a glimpse of him once in a news article. He freaked me out."

Barret looked dumbfounded.

"Who? Who the hell are two talking about?" He asked.

"Professor Hojo, of ShinRa's science department," Cloud explained.

As soon as she heard the names, "Hojo" and "ShinRa," Chorale's eyes widened and her mouth gaped. Images began flying past her eyes as the world around her suddenly dissolves away and replaced by a deep green, glowing substance.

Chorale feels that she is still in reality and calmly tells herself that this is not real. A voice enters her head.

* * *

 _"Oh my, my. Looks like you've found your way to a good group of people. You see, already, your memory is returning to you," the female voice said in a sarcastic, yet calm tone._

 _Chorale stays absolutely still, knowing that this whole dilemma is inside her head._

 _Speaking with her mind, she asks, "What do you mean? Is everything going as to planned? Will I find the rest of my memories? And um, who are you exactly?"_

 _The voice laughs. It was an eerie-sounding laugh, makes the mysterious speaker seem much more terrifying._

 _"Who I am is not important. However, I can't really say that there's a plan to this. Actually, there is no plan at all! My dear, you need to stop overthinking and just go with the flow. Think of this as a second chance in your life..." The voice begins to fade away._

 _Chorale panicked._

 _"No wait! Come back! Please! At least tell me why the name "ShinRa" sounds so familiar to me! Does it have anything to do with me?"_

* * *

The world suddenly turns back to normal again as Chorale sees the members of Avalanche, all staring at her in concern. Tifa is front of her, waving a hand in front of her face.

"Hello? Chorale are you alright?" She asked.

Chorale blinked a few times and then nodded her head.

"Yeah I'm ok now," she assured.

Barret sighed in relief.

"Well that's good. You just suddenly stopped moving right there, we didn't know what to do. Luckily it was only for a few seconds."

He took a long swig of beer from his mug.

"Tell me about ShinRa," Chorale suddenly said.

Barret spat out his drink and the whole atmosphere in the bar suddenly dropped twenty degrees. Barret was the first to react.

"Excuse me, but what?"

Chorale repeated her previous question with much more force.

"Tell me about ShinRa. Please."

She was no longer smiling, but looked dead on serious. Barret shook his head.

"I'm sorry. But you can't convince me that you've never heard of that company, or of any of their murderous, deceitful deeds before! I mean, it's just not possible! It's not right!" He shouted.

Tifa immediately stood up to calm him down.

"Barret! She was just asking."

Chorale, unaffected by the sudden outburst from Barret, continues to speak.

"ShinRa. So I'm assuming they aren't exactly well liked?" She asked innocently, but curiously.

Tifa nodded.

"I don't like Barret's outbursts, but I have to agree with what he feels about ShinRa. That company is evil. They will trick people, take advantage of them and of the Planet. Everyday, their reactors suck mako energy out from the ground. If this continues, our Planet will die one day!"

"Mako reactors? Like the one that just exploded up in the city above us?" Chorale asked, getting a bit excited that this is going somewhere.

Biggs joins in the conversation, "That's right. We did that to put a stop to their harmful acts. And we won't stop until we've taken them down! That's what Avalanche is about!"

Chorale thought deeply and attempted to make some reach for any more memories, but failed.

"I see. So in a way. If Avalanche were to stop ShinRa, the Planet would be around for much longer?" She asked.

Cloud sighed.

"There's no proof to that. But it definitely improves its chances of survival. Anyways, that's basically what's going on right now. And probably the most important thing you need to know for right now. ShinRa is hated by nearly the entire world population and we're going to try to stop them," he said.

Tifa and Barret gaped at Cloud.

He looked at them, confused, "What? I told you guys, I'm staying here. I ain't going anywhere."

Chorale suddenly stood up, smiling brightly.

"Well then. Me neither. I'm going to need the Planet to stay around for longer in order to find my memories. So I'm trusting you guys to tell me the truth, is the Planet really dying? Is ShinRa really that evil? Well if it's true, then count me in on the fight!"

The members of Avalanche looked in shock at their newest candidate. Chorale cocked her head to the side.

"What? Besides, I need to repay you guys somehow for letting me and Allie stay here. And so far, ShinRa is the only anchor I have to finding the rest of me. So I'm joining you guys!" She reasoned.

Tifa still looked concerned.

"But it's dangerous to fight against ShinRa! Your whole life is on the line! What about your daughter? What would happen to her if something were to happen to you?"

Chorale's smile lowered a bit. She thought hard about what to do.

"I'm doing this for her. She deserves a mother who knows about life. Who can pass on her knowledge to her. Who can tell her who her father is...all of it can be solved if I go out and look for answers."

Chorale's words were final. Barret smiled down at her and held out a hand.

"Well then, welcome to the party."

Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie all cheered as Chorale shook hands with Barret. Cloud stood up from the table and went over to the elevator that led down to the base.

"Well. Better get some rest now. 'Cause we're going out bright and early tomorrow to bomb another one of those reactors."

* * *

The next morning, Cloud was the last to wake up and eat breakfast. As soon as he came up though, Barret walked up to him and handed him a sack of gil.

"Here. This is the one you earned from yesterday. Sorry if it's isn't enough for your tastes, but...I kind of need the rest of the it for Marlene's schoolin'," he explained.

Cloud took the sack of gil and carefully put it away in his pocket, sighing.

"Well, better than nothing I guess. How much is it for this mission?" He asked.

Barret's jaw dropped, "Now hold on a minute. Since you're an actual member of our team now, you ain't getting paid no more."

Cloud rolled his eyes.

"Still. I think I should get a little something at least."

The ex-SOLDIER shrugs and turns around to walk away. The front doors to the bar suddenly flew open and in rushed Chorale, flushed and carrying a large bag of items. She nearly bumped right into Cloud.

"Hey, watch out! Sorry, Cloud. I see that you're finally up. Guess we can leave now on the mission."

She set the bag down on the ground. Tifa walked up the bag and opened it with Chorale, exposing a large number of weaponry and pieces of armor.

"I think I got everything on the list. You think it's good?" Chorale asked to Tifa.

The bartender nodded.

"It's great. Alright everyone! Stock up! Then we'll be going!" She ordered.

All the members of Avalanche took the weapon of their choice and exchanged some materia to one another.

Barret timidly looked at the cure materia he was given. Cloud caught his expression, but didn't say anything. Barret however, sighed and turned to Cloud.

"Hey um, Cloud. Could you help me with something?" He asked, a bit embarrassed.

Cloud looked to Barret with a serious expression.

"Fine, what do you want?"

"I don't how to use materia!" Barret cried.

Chorale's eyes widened.

"Really? Even I know how to use it. And I'm the one with memory loss! Heh heh...sorry, that wasn't funny, I'm sorry."

With that, she went digging through the leftovers of the weapons and pulled out a black double sword sheath.

Cloud sighed and took out his thunder materia to show to Barret.

"Alright now look. Materia is said to be made from condensed mako energy, and within it, contains power of supernatural abilities. You can cast all kinds of spells with this item and fuse it with your weapon. However, using materia isn't the best for your health as it requires a high level of concentration to make it actually work.

If you overuse on the materia, you're physical abilities will weaken, so you will want to be wise when using it. Oh and I forgot to mention, there will many different combinations of materia we can try once we start getting more. So spend all of your gil on just weapons ok?" Cloud explained to Barret.

But the man was even more dumbfounded than before.

He blinked twice at Cloud in confusion, "What? What the hell kind of tutorial was that? Y'know what? Here Cloud, you have the materia!"

Barret practically threw all of his materia at the blonde ex-SOLDIER.

Out of nowhere, Allie appears down the stairs, looking all innocent and adorable.

"Mama? Where are you?" She asked.

Chorale immediately rushed over to her daughter and gave her a little swoop across the air.

"Don't worry sweetie. Mama's right here. Mama's going to out for awhile so just stay here with Marlene over there ok?" Chorale soothed.

Allie nodded fiercely and smiled.

"Ok. But you'll be back right? I'll be a good girl," she said.

Chorale put her down on the little table near the bar where Marlene is, and rubs her blonde head.

"Oh I will be, don't you worry. Now, just have fun with Marlene 'kay?"

Chorale reassured as she walked up the stairs to the guest room where she stayed last night. Tifa smiled at the sweet moment between mother and daughter.

"Sigh. Seeing them like that, almost makes me want to have kids one day too."

She said as she put on her new fighting gloves and adjusted them to comfort.

Cloud laughed nervously, "I don't know. It's kind of pressuring, and a bit nerve-racking. I mean, what if you don't do a good job? Being a parent and all. I don't want kids looking at me and thinking, 'You suck. You're not fair.'"

Barret grunted in annoyance.

"Well, at least Marlene ain't like that to me!" He cried proudly.

Tifa shook her head, "But still...to be a single parent at that young of an age. I can't even think about how she feels. It's already bad enough that she has to look out for herself and her child, but to have her memory lost? That's even worse."

Barret shrugged, "Really? If you ask me, I think that the worst thing that happened to her was that dead-beat father of her little girl left her to care for the two of them. I mean, there's supposed to be a commitment, especially when it comes to raising a child."

"I heard that."

Chorale appeared behind them, wearing the black sheath containing two long katanas on her back.

"I'm fine you guys. I can't really remember anything that has to do with me, Allie, or her biological father. That's why I'm going with you. So please, just concentrate on your lives will ya? If you do that, it'll make my new life experiences right now, a whole lot better," Chorale said.

Cloud nodded.

"Fine, ok. Then lets go."

* * *

Zack walked across the slums of Sector 6, hoping to find his way into Sector 5, where he hopes a certain young flower girl would be waiting for him.

"Hang on Aeris. I'm coming. Just wait for me," he said to himself.

All around him was stalls and pieces of trash thrown down from the plate, but Zack didn't mind. In fact, it made he feel all nostalgic again. Just like when he used to visit her all the time back then.

Crossing from Sector 6 into Sector 5, Zack's excitement began to grow into worry.

Worried that something might have happened to Aeris over the course of the four long years.

Worried that Aeris might have lost her feelings for him.

Worried that she left him for someone else. Well if she did, he wouldn't blame her, he'd just be very upset over it.

Zack immediately hit himself in the forehead.

"Dude. What are you so scared about? This is it. The moment I've been waiting for. Maybe I should bring her some flowers when I go in? No idiot! She has a whole garden of them for god sake! I should just enter and be all, 'I'm back.' Yes! That's it! She doesn't like things too fancy, but that's not too plain either!"

Zack cockily grinned to himself and walked confidently to the front entrance of the church door. It was bigger than he thought it was.

Memories of entering and leaving this place when he was building the flower cart for Aeris returned to his head. Now those were good times.

Can they continue to have more good times together like that? Even though he is a wanted fugitive from ShinRa?

He'd be putting her into a lot of danger, just being with her. But then again, Aeris is already under heavy surveillance by the ShinRa Turks. Tseng seems to be constantly watching her from a distant.

From what Zack knows, Aeris is apparently the last living beings of the great Ancient race.

But that was made her even more special and beautiful to him. And now, he was about to see what the beauty of the slums had become over the course of the four years.

Opening the double doors of the church, Zack put on his very best smile and opened his eyes...to see that Aeris wasn't there.

Instead, a middle aged and ragged-looking man sat up from lying on the church bleachers and turned to Zack. The man spoke with a raspy voice due to being on drugs.

"Hey! Who the hell ya think you are?" He shouted.

A very confused Zack tilted his head. As if seeing the whole situation from a different angle might cause that cranky high man in the bleachers to turn into that innocent flower girl.

But it didn't work.

"Aeris Gainsborough?" Zack asked very nervously.

"Hell no! If you're talkin' about that chick who dresses in pink all the damn time and grows flowers. Then she ain't here! She's probably up on the plate doing her flower selling business!"

"Up on the plate?"

 _She actually went up to see the sky..._

Zack thought wonderfully. Then he frowned.

 _Wait no! I promised her that I'd be beside her when she went! She probably thinks I'm an asshole!_

Turning around, Zack prepared to leave the church.

"Thanks man! I'll be leaving now!"

"Hey! You know the last train going up is about leave in like 2 minutes. So good luck getting to Sector 7 on time, dumbass boyfriend!"

The man shouted, then he laughed and went back to lying down against the bleachers again.

Zack immediately began sprinting across the streets of Sector 5, ignoring anything or any people in his way. He needed to get to that train.

* * *

Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and Chorale boarded the last cart of the last train going up to the plate. As soon as they entered and the train started to move, Barret barked orders at them.

"Alright clear this car! Right now, lets go!"

The other three members spaced out around the aisle. Most of the passengers that were originally in this cart moved onto the next one in front of them except for one very professional-looking guy who stayed behind.

He sighed as he sat down on the seats of the train and looked to his watch.

"Hooligans. And this is why I hate the last train..." he mumbled.

However, his mumbling did not go unnoticed by Barret, who immediately came up to him, all tall and intimidating.

"Huh? Now what did you say? Train's got empty all of sudden. Why's that?" The leader of Avalanche asked.

The business man looked very nervous.

"It's because of people like you...that the rest of us are scared," he explained, though barely audible.

Barret raised a brow.

"Oh? Then maybe this'll give you a real scare."

He suddenly slammed his left fist down hard on the seat right next to the business man, who became very startled.

"Yikes! But it isn't just you guys. Haven't you heard? On the news? There's been an explosion at one of the mako reactors, ShinRa is afraid it might be an act of rebellion. Only loyal employees like me would go to work on a day like today."

Barret scrunched his face, "So, you work for ShinRa? Why, I oughta..."

"Barret!" Tifa cried before he could strike at the extremely frightened business man.

Barret immediately backed away, grunting, before walking away to the front of the cart.

Tifa sighed in relief before running up to Cloud who was standing next the map of the Midgar railway system.

Cloud asked Tifa something about the security checkpoints.

"Oh right. You see, at a certain point in the railway, there will be scan where the identifications of every passenger are to be checked and linked back to the large database of people ShinRa owns. They had just refined their system so we won't be able to use our fake id's anymore. So in about a few minutes, we're jumping off this train alright?" Tifa explained.

Chorale walked up to the business man cautiously. He looked up at her only slightly, but kept his stare.

"You work for ShinRa? Do you know a lot about the company?" She asked him.

Barret immediately came between them, putting a protective arm before Chorale.

"You stay away from that man, got it? All people in ShinRa are scum, no exceptions," he ordered.

"But..." Chorale began but never finished.

The red emergency lights came on and the sound of the alarm rung throughout the train.

"What's going on?" Tifa cried.

Barret rushed forward with Chorale close behind him.

"Shit! Someone blew their cover in the security check zone!" He yelled.

Cloud looked confused, "But how? Isn't that checkpoint supposed to be a bit further down?"

Barret shook his head as he opened the door leading into the cart in front of them. He gestured for them to get a move on.

"Who cares about all that right now? We need to get off this train! Now come on!" He shouted as he ran into the next cart.

Cloud followed close behind him, sighing over the failure of the start of the mission. Tifa turned to Chorale before taking off.

"Stay close behind us," she ordered.

"Don't worry, I will," Chorale replied as she took off with Tifa across the next cart.

* * *

"Security breach. There is an unidentified passenger on this train. Carts will be prepared for lockdown," the female voice over the announcements said.

Barret led the way down the aisle of the current train cart they are in. Cloud, Tifa, and Chorale ran behind him, pushing across people and suitcases as they ran to the next train cart.

Running alongside them, were a bunch of other suspicious-looking people who are probably afraid that the unidentified passenger may be them. As they left the last train cart, it was immediately locked down.

The Avalanche team luckily made it out together and ended up in the front of the train. Barret checked around the outside area of the train to see if it's safe to jump out now.

"Alright, it's all clear. Come on people! We need to get off now!"

He ordered, pushing them to the edge of the train's railings. Chorale looked a bit unsure.

"Uh...you certain that this is safe?" She asked.

Cloud shrugged, "Don't ask me. Just trust our leader here."

Tifa smiled at the both of them, "Just watch me ok guys? Here I go!"

With that, Tifa gracefully jumped off the train and onto the ground next to the railway.

Chorale, suddenly feeling a surge of power rush through her built up some speed before jumping off the train.

"Wheeee!" She cried at the top of her lungs.

Cloud turned around to Barret before jumping.

"Are you sure you want me to go before you?" He asked.

Barret nodded.

"A true leader stays until the end."

Liking the answer, Cloud gave him a faint smile and jumped off the speeding train.

Only a few seconds later, Barret also jumped off the train and that was it. The Avalanche team finished the first part of their mission, which was getting to the plate.

Now it's time for the second part of the mission, which is the actual bombing of the reactor.

* * *

Zack rubbed his head while standing up from where he was knocked over by a bunch of weird-looking people who ran past him in a panic.

One of the guys in the group accidentally struck him in the head as he was pushing people out of his way.

"What's the big idea?" Zack said to himself as he held onto the pole to clear his head.

He remembered when the emergency lights came on and the train carts were locked one by one, forcing several security guards to come through and check the ID of every single passenger on the train.

Zack luckily, had steered clear of questioning due to the fact the security guards were new, and probably didn't know his status as a wanted fugitive by ShinRa.

Laughing to himself, Zack suddenly finds himself remembering when the random guy suddenly struck him in the head as he was running by in a panic.

"Why do I always end up picturing that blonde spiky head of his? Was it really blonde? Or was it that colour under the red light? Gaia Cloud, looks like you've officially became a permanent knob in my brain. I'd die if that dude who just ran past me was you!"

* * *

 **What do you guys think? Was this chapter too long? Please don't be afraid to post any reviews. I'd be happy to read them. Comment on how long I should make my chapters, what I could improve on, things like that. Thanks for reading! Next chapter would be out around...you know what? I'm not even gonna try to estimate!**


	3. The Second Mission

**New chapter update. Whew, after several weeks of working. I am done. Here's the new chapter viewers! Please like and review.**

* * *

 **Disc 1 (Midgar): The Second Mission**

Barret stands in front of the group, looking around to see if the area is clear.

"Alright guys. Change of plans. We'll have to find another way to get to the reactor from here."

The four Avalanche members all stayed close together as they walked down the long dark railway tunnel made of cement and metal. Chorale curiously looked around the place.

"This is so cool. Are we like underground right now?" She asked.

"Sort of. This is more like under the plate. Not underground. From here, we can access all the tunnels and other underground passages interconnecting the undergrowth of the city above. There should be a passage that leads from here directly to mako reactor 5," Cloud explained.

Barret looked rather impressed.

"So I'm guessing that being a SOLDIER teaches you about these things eh?" He asked.

Cloud shook his head, "Not really. It's just logical reasoning. I mean the mako reactors do go underneath the city plate, so there should be other ways out of the reactor in case of an emergency or an accident."

"Like this thing here?" Chorale suddenly asked.

She and Tifa were standing in front of a small opening in the ground of the side of the tunnel wall. Tifa inspects the valve to the opening closely.

"Well, it looks like it could lead to somewhere. Cloud? Barret?" She asked turning to them.

Barret immediately shook his head, "Nuh uh! I ain't going down there first! What if I get stuck?"

Cloud walked up to the valve and opened it with his bare hands. He takes a peek down the little shaft.

Cloud pursed his lips, "Hmmm. Looks like it could fit all of us. I'd say we give it a try."

He took a step down the opening and into the little silvery metal tunnel inside. One by one, the rest of the group followed.

* * *

They walked across the little corridor-like area and met up with Jessie by the end of the first tunnel.

"I see that you all made it off the train alright. I'm sorry though, that whole thing was my fault. I messed up those fake ids, so you guys all got caught. I did my best...but failed," she sighed.

Chorale and Tifa went up to comfort her. Cloud shook his head in disagreement.

"Don't say that. We should've been more prepared in case for a situation like that," he said.

"Yeah, and besides. Our goal right now is to get to mako reactor 5. So don't focus on that little train incident," Barret encouraged.

Jessie brightened up a bit after the conversation, so the four people continued on through the tunnel towards the ladder at the very end and climbed down it.

Below them was a large warehouse-like area, glowing green with mako energy, signaling that they are quite close to the reactor.

The group reached the bottom of the ladder and crossed the large metal walkway to the other side where Wedge is standing beside a long ladder leading up to another level above them.

He greets them with smiles.

"Hiya guys! Just go up the ladder. Mako reactor 5 is right ahead of you!" He explained.

The group thanked him and wished him good luck in getting out of the area before the explosion.

Cloud then started climbing up the ladder that lead them to a new level above their heads. The rest of Avalanche followed close behind him.

Up on the level above, Biggs was waiting by a small ladder that lead straight into the mako reactor.

Chorale was panting a bit at this point.

"Are we almost there yet? Not to be impatient or anything. Just saying," she asked.

Biggs nodded at her, "Yep. The reactor is right ahead of you guys. Just go up ahead and you're there."

"Oh finally!" Chorale sighed happily.

Tifa giggled at her childlike expression. _This is so different from the quiet woman who was just there last night,_ she thought.

Barret went first when going.

"A leader got to make sure that the area is safe when entering a new place. Especially dangerous ones," he explained before walking forward.

Cloud rolled his eyes.

"Oh whatever, it's not like that we can't fight." He said.

* * *

The inside of the middle level of the mako reactor is extremely large and spacey. It was the size of two to three whole stories, with large black metal pipes and different kinds of machinery and generators.

There was a large staircase leading up to an upper platform which leads to the elevator that would take any personnel to the ground floor.

Right in front of the bottom of the staircase was another elevator. This one leads down to the lower levels of the mako reactor, where the actual work of sucking mako out of the Planet occurs.

Barret shows the entire area with one swoop of his left hand.

"You see Chorale? This is an example of what ShinRa does to our home. Everyday, these reactors keep sucking energy out of the ground, killing the Planet 24/7!" He explained.

Tifa nodded in agreement.

"And it's not only here. There's mako reactors all over the world. I remember the one that was in the village where Cloud and I grew up in. Monsters were always being produced from it," she added.

Chorale looked shocked.

"Is this mako energy this bad? If so, then why does ShinRa continue to manufacture it?" She questioned.

"Why you ask?" A male voice suddenly cuts in.

The group turns around to see a small squadron of infantrymen suddenly appear from the darkness of the area. The one in front aims his gun at the Avalanche team.

It was the same infantryman who interrupted their conversation.

"Because the people need the energy. Without it, they won't be able to live easy lives. So in way, ShinRa is actually trying to give the people what they want. Not the other way around."

Barret, Cloud, and Tifa immediately glare at the head infantryman.

"Liar! You know what this does to the Planet! You know! Do you really want ShinRa to keep all those people ignorant?" Tifa yelled.

"Save your breath Tifa! We ain't got no time for foolish scumbags like them. But I sure do want to teach them a lesson for messing with Avalanche today!" Barret cried as he readied his gun, but one of the infantrymen already took a shot at him.

Chorale saw it coming and immediately took out one of her katannas and deflected the bullet in a single stroke.

She then takes out her other katanna and nods at the three Avalanche members.

"Go on, get out of here! I'll handle these guys! I promise I'll meet you back in Sector 7 when this is all over!" She cried.

Cloud, at first unsure, then nods and turns to run away to the direction of the elevator. Barret takes Tifa with him, who calls out for Chorale to stay safe before disappearing down the elevator.

* * *

Chorale turns back to the infantrymen as she glares at the one who attempted to take a shot at Cloud. Without saying anything, she immediately ran towards the head infantryman and took a strike at his right leg.

He fell to the ground, clutching his thigh and moaning in agony.

"Get her! She's with Avalanche!" He cried to the rest of his subordinates.

The whole group charged directly towards Chorale, but she quickly dodged out of the way and jumped onto the large pipe nearby to get a height advantage.

Half of the infantrymen began firing their guns at the pipe and Chorale began deflecting them as quickly as she could.

A few seconds later, the infantrymen were forced to reload and Chorale took this chance to snap her left sword at a certain angle and the whole weapon came apart to form a whip.

The katanna's metal blade divided into several equal pieces, all attached along a thin yet sturdy wire. Before the infantrymen got a chance to fire again, the deadly whip came along the right side of the group and made contact with one unlucky member.

The whip continues to move across the entire group, knocking most of them off their feet with body of the infantryman that is hooked onto on the whip's blade.

Shaking the dead infantryman off her whip, Chorale jumps down from the pipe to handle the infantrymen who got back up to their feet.

The first one came up at her with a sword out in front of her face, but she merely blocks it and brings up her feet to kick him away before turning around to meet five more infantrymen coming at her with guns and swords.

With a flick of her arm, she swiftly sweeps her whip across all five of them at once, severely wounding them.

Sensing something coming from behind her, Chorale snaps the sword in her right hand into a whip and brings it around her potential attacker.

The sharp edges of the whip severed the head of the head infantryman and he fell dead to the ground.

Two other infantrymen comes at her, yelling and swearing as they brought out their own melee weapons. Chorale loops her right whip into the air in a half circle before pulling it down at a great force, causing all the individual pieces of whip to be brought all together again, turning it back into the former katanna.

She does the same to her left whip and immediately struck at the two infantryman, who were being driven forward by their emotions of anger and pain.

The infantryman to her left let his sword slide down Chorale's katanna to quickly strike her in the arm.

Chorale cries out in pain as she drops her left sword. The infantryman goes raises his sword again to do another blow on her, but was suddenly struck by lightning instead.

Smirking as she held out her thunder materia in her injured left hand, Chorale did the same with the right infantryman.

With all the infantrymen gone, Chorale puts both of her katannas back into their sheaths and takes out her cure materia to fix her arm.

A single gunshot near her right leg caused her to drop the materia in shock.

The source of the mysterious gunshot comes out to reveal himself as a tall middle-aged bald man with sunglasses and wearing a dark suit. One either side of him was an infantryman, pointing their guns straight at Chorale.

Picking up her materia, Chorale sucked in a breath as she stood her ground, but was fighting the urge to turn and run away.

"Who are you 'Baldy'?" She asked.

The two infantryman laughed at the comment, but the bald man said nothing and just stayed where he was standing.

"..." The silence went on for a couple of seconds until Chorale got frustrated.

"Uh helloooo? Are you going to say something? Or maybe arrest me, or anything! Because this is starting to look very suspicious and if you don't show any reactions right now, I'm going have to fight."

She explained as she cautiously raised her arms to reach for her katannas, but the bald man immediately stepped forward.

"Forgive me, but are you responsible for all those deaths over there?" He asked, gesturing to the infantrymen she had just slaughtered.

She stared at him, "Yes. Is there a problem?"

"..." The bald man in the suit and sunglasses stayed silent.

"..." And he remains this way.

Finally, the bald man starts speaking.

"I'm Rude. I work for the ShinRa Electric Power Company, and I'm afraid I have to take you in for interrogation. You just killed our men, and we cannot let that slide..." Once again, he trailed off and became silent.

Chorale yells him, annoyed.

"Ok, if you have something to say, say it! Stop stopping in between! I get it! You're with ShinRa, which is from what I've heard, a pretty bad company, and killing our Planet. But my name is Chorale, and I'm with Avalanche. So see you later!" She cried as she readies herself to fight back.

Before anything happened though, a young man with spiky black hair suddenly appears from the second level jumped down, landing directly upon the bald man.

He then easily takes out the two other infantryman before going up to Chorale.

"Hey! You ok? You looked pretty intimidated back there and I just thought you were in trouble," the man explained.

Chorale looks at her saviour, tilting her head a bit as she wonders why he looks so familiar to her.

"Well, I was. Thanks a lot. Say...um..."

"Hi, I'm Zack. Ex-SOLDIER first class, and you are? Say...you look really familiar, do I know you?" He asked, squinting his eyes as he racked his brain for any answers.

A look of hope fills Chorale's eyes as she gasped at Zack's question.

"Maybe! I'm Chorale! Does that sound familiar to you at all? Where have you seen me before? What was I like back them?" She asked a mile a minute.

Zack put up his hands to slow her speech down.

"Whoa, whoa. I didn't get all of that. Can you repeat those questions again..."

As Zack and Chorale were having their little conversation, Rude and the two infantrymen managed to get back up, though with some difficulty. Zack brought out his borrowed sword from Mr. Ichus and was about to ready himself in combat position when Chorale stopped him.

"No! Listen, Zack. I have friends who are down in the mako reactor. One's a blonde cocky guy wielding a very large sword, then there's this large dark-skinned man with a gun arm, and a pretty martial arts specialist girl. I'm pretty sure they could use some help. Just tell them I sent you and you seem really familiar to me," Chorale explained.

"What? But why? You're not going to fight them alone are you?" asked Zack.

The girl shook her head, "No. I think I've seen enough today. I need a break from my mind, tell my friends I'm going back to the Sector 7 slums with the rest of our group. Can you do that, Zack? I'll explain everything else when we see each other again."

Without waiting for an answer, Chorale ran away from the area and back down the ladder where Biggs was. Putting his sword back on his back, Zack turned around and ran straight for the elevator that led down to the lower level of the mako reactor.

As he went down, he thought about his recent conversation.

"Hmm. Strange girl. But oddly familiar. Where have I heard the name 'Chorale' before?"

* * *

Rude gets back to his feet and adjusts his sunglasses on his nose. The two infantrymen beside him worriedly asks him if he's ok. He answers them with a wave of his hand before looking out to the distant, then up at the top of the large room.

Inside his mind, he replays the meeting he had with the mysterious Avalanche girl from before. Thoughts and memories, good and bad, scatter through his head, as a million more thoughts enter and conflict with his reality.

"She...she said her name was Chorale...but it couldn't be...no. How am I supposed to report this now? Especially to Heidegger..."

* * *

At the lower levels of the mako reactor. Cloud, Barret, and Tifa made it to the end of the metal platform.

They stop in front of the large pipe that runs along the wall, which is the area where they will place their ready-made bomb. Tifa turns to Cloud, who is holding the bomb in his hands.

"Alright Cloud, go on and put it in!" She ordered.

Cloud nodded and walked forward towards the pipe, but suddenly, he dropped to his knees and began clutching the sides of his head. The whole world around him began to glow in a bright white light.

Tifa and Barret both rushed forward to the blonde man on his knees. Tifa desperately tries to call him back to his senses.

* * *

 _In his mind, Cloud's world around him transformed into a flashback. He was still in a mako reactor, but it wasn't the reactor of Sector 5._

 _It was a different reactor and in front of his eyes, was a teenaged girl with long black hair and wearing a cowgirl outfit._

 _She was kneeling before a dead older man with a long gleaming sword beside his body. Tears of pain and anger were in her eyes as she tried to wake up the dead man._

 _"Papa? Papa? Did Sephiroth do this to you?" The girl said in a shaky voice._

 _Cloud knew immediately that that girl, was Tifa._

 _Tifa stood up slowly, her pain gradually turning into anger._

 _"Sephiroth...SOLDIER...ShinRa...I hate it all!" She cried as she picked the long silver sword on the ground and ran into the reactor's mako chamber._

* * *

As soon as that happened, the flashback ended and Cloud is brought back to reality once again. He looked up at Tifa, who sighed in relief.

"You're back!" She cried.

Cloud nodded as he got back up to his feet. Barret scowls at him.

"Well hurry up, SOLDIER-boy! We haven't got all day!" He pushed.

Walking forward, Cloud planted the time bomb into place with the pipe and turned around to give Barret a thumbs up.

"Alright. Bomb's set. Now lets get out of here," he said.

The three Avalanche members ran down the path they came down from and up the ladder. From there, they proceeded to go across the large pipe which leads to another ladder which they climb.

Running at high speed across the metal walkways, they make out of the lower level and into the large warehouse room. Tifa looked around desperately.

"Where's Chorale? You don't think she might've..."

"I'm sure she's fine," Barret interrupted. "The girl's seems to be the type to get carried away sometimes, but she also seems like the type who won't do anything stupid."

"Barret's right. We need to worry about getting out of here before the bomb goes off," Cloud agreed.

Tifa's jaw dropped to hear that Cloud just agreed to something with Barret. Though, she only nodded and the three of them ran towards the large staircase in front of them that leads to the metal platform above them.

At the edge of the platform, against the wall, was the elevator that they all boarded soon after.

The elevator goes to the floor above and lets them out. They exit into a large room with a sliding door at the end of the room which requires a code to be unlocked.

Beside the door was a path to another room where three computer controls lie. Tifa, Barret, and Cloud all stand in front of each control.

"Jessie said that we all have to push the button at once," Tifa commanded.

Cloud and Barret nodded at her to let her know they got it. The three of them counted down inside their heads.

 _Three...two...one..._ _push!_

They pushed their individual buttons, but unfortunately, at the wrong timing.

Tifa frowned, "No good. Lets try again."

Cloud slowed down his speed a little.

 _Three...two...one...push!_

They pushed the buttons again, this time, all at the same time. A delightful _ding_ sounded as the sliding door unlocks and opens for them to continue towards the exit of the reactor. The exit became visible as they turned around the corner of the large hall.

* * *

Finally, Avalanche got out of the reactor and onto the final metal platform that would lead them off the entire structure and onto the plate. They stopped once they got to the T-intersection of the walkway.

Barret looked to the left and the right both sides before commanding them to go again.

"This way!" He cried.

Barret lead the way to the left with Cloud and Tifa close behind him.

Suddenly out of nowhere, dozens of ShinRa guards came out and blocked their exit from the reactor. Immediately stopping, Barret's eyes widened with shock.

"ShinRa soldiers!? The hell? What's going on?" Barret asked.

"A trap..." Cloud said knowingly, as he looked around cautiously, putting on hand on the handle of his sword in case he needs it.

Suddenly, footsteps were heard from the reactor entrance in front of them. Seconds later, a large middle-aged man with blonde hair emerged in an expensive looking red suit.

The man had a very serious expression upon his face and an uncomfortable aura of corruption and greed surrounding him. He stops only a few feet before the three eco-terrorists.

Barret was the first to react upon seeing the man.

"Pres...President ShinRa..." he stuttered.

Tifa immediately ran closer to the two men, squinting her eyes suspiciously.

"Why is the President here?" She asked.

President ShinRa clasped his hands behind his back, confidently and smirked.

"Hmm...so you all must be...what was it again?"

"Avalanche! And don't you forget about it! So, you're President ShinRa eh?" Barret replied, in a threatening tone.

Undeterred by the impending danger following the man before them, Cloud stepped forward towards the President.

Looking at him straight in the eye, Cloud said to him, "Long time no see, sir."

President ShinRa took a few seconds to process what the blonde man had just said.

"...Long time no see? Oh...you. You're the one who quit SOLDIER and joined Avalanche. I know you've been exposed to mako, from the look in your eyes..."

Putting a hand to his chin, the President thought deeply.

"Tell me, traitor...what is your name?" He asked.

Cloud ignored the President's unwillingness to co-operate and answered him plainly.

"Cloud. Cloud Strife."

"Forgive me for asking, but I can't be expected to remember everyone's name. Unless you were like Sephiroth. Ah...yes, he was brilliant. Perhaps too brilliant," President ShinRa said.

Cloud took a few steps back upon hearing the name, "Sephiroth." He quietly repeated the name under his breath.

Barret didn't give a damn about what those two were just talking about. He ran forward shaking his gun arm at the President, glaring.

"I don't give a damn about that! This place's going to blow up soon! Serves you all right!" He spat.

"...And such a good waste of fireworks. To get rid of vermin like you," The president sighed.

Barret shook a fist.

"Vermin? ShinRa's the vermin for killing the Planet! Which means that makes you the 'King of Vermin!'" He cried.

"Whatever. Now if you'll excuse me. I have a dinner I must attend to."

"'Dinner?' Now get me started with that shit!"

President ShinRa smirked as he put his hands together.

"I'm not getting you started with anything. But this thing will."

Just then, a loud whirling sound came up from underneath the reactor's metal walkway. Cloud looked over the edge and saw a large piece of machinery flying towards them using large helicopter blades on its topside.

"Meet Air Buster. The techno-soldier our Weapons Development just created. I'm sure that the data extracted from your bodies will be useful for future experiments." The president explained as he lifted one arm to call down a ShinRa-issue helicopter from above.

The helicopter stopped right beside the walkway for President ShinRa to easily get on.

Barret lifted his gun arm up, ready to shoot.

"Come back here you!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

Air Buster flies overhead the entire Avalanche crew. It's gears and cogs are all ready for battle as several guns and other ammunition devices lock into place. Tifa looks up at the large robot with curious eyes.

"This is from SOLDIER?" She asked.

"No way! It's just a machine!" Cloud quickly corrects.

He reaches back for his Buster Sword, knowing that a fight is unavoidable.

"I don't care what it is! I'm bustin' him up!" Barret cried as he loads up his gun arm and aims straight for the robot.

* * *

Cloud jumped forward and took a great big swipe with his sword right at Air Buster's bottom appendage. It was enough to cause it to dangle from the rest of its body.

Immediately taking the chance, Barret raised his gun arm and repeatedly shoots at the chest of the robot, denting its protective case.

Air Buster, though a bit damaged, turns to Tifa and fires a few rounds of bullets. The martial artist gasps as she quickly somersaulted back to avoid being hit.

Landing on her feet, she looked at Air Buster straight in the where its eyes should be. She runs forward and carefully dodges every single bullet the robot shoots at her.

She properly times her flying jump kick and aimed it straight at the top portion of Air Buster, sending it a good feet back and onto the ground of walkway.

Cloud rushes next to Tifa to make sure she's not injured. Seeing that the young woman is just fine, Cloud returned to fighting Air Buster.

Concentrating hard, he ran forward, dragging his sword behind him.

Stopping right before Air Buster, Cloud leaps high into the air with his sword held up high behind him. He brings his sword down against the robot just as he descends back to the ground.

By now, Air Buster was severely damaged. Sparks were beginning to show and more parts are starting to fall off.

Barret prepares for a big blast from his gun just as the robot turns to him.

Several missiles suddenly fire at Barret from Air Buster all at once. Suddenly, a mysterious man jumps in front of him and blocks the entire attack with his sword.

The young man breathes heavily as the missiles all hit the sturdy medium-sized blade. He turns to Barret, smiling.

"You folks alright?" He asked.

Barret nodded, "Yeah, thanks."

From the other side of Air Buster, Cloud could partially see what just happened. His eyes grew open as he saw the mysterious man put down his sword to reveal his face. A thousand images and memories rush through his head.

The young man waves to Cloud and Tifa on the other side. Tifa waves back, but Cloud doesn't answer.

"Hey there! Are you the people I'm supposed to meet? A girl named 'Chorale' told me to come and find you guys," he explained.

"Really? Thank goodness she's fine! But who are you?" Tifa cried.

"Name's Zack. Zack Fair. Former SOLDIER first class," Zack introduced himself.

Cloud stiffled a gasp. For some reason, he felt the need to call out to the mysterious new man who just arrived.

"Zack...Zack...ZACK!" He yelled.

Zack turned around again to see the blonde man who just called him. This time, getting a much clearer look at him. Zack's jaw fell as he couldn't believe who he's seeing.

"Clou...LOOK OUT!"

Suddenly, Air Buster decided to launch another attack, this time on both sides. Cloud lifted his sword up in a similar fashion to how Zack did to block both him and Tifa from the attack.

Zack lifted his sword so its tip would be pointing directly at the robot. He rushed forward and swiped his sword from one side to the other.

All of his strikes were evenly timed and clean. For the last strike, he jumped up and brought his sword down hard upon the top of Air Buster.

Barret finished off the robot once and for all with one giant blast of his gun.

For a few seconds, Air Buster just stood there, nothing happening. But then, sparks began to fly again and a great heat was building up inside of it. Barret calls for Cloud and Tifa to get over to his side.

Tifa runs over as fast as she could, but Cloud was not as lucky.

The robot exploded, taking a large portion of the walkway with it. Cloud was left hanging just on the ledge of a piece of metal.

Zack and Tifa both ran forward, panic in their eyes.

"Cloud! Are you alright?" Tifa cried.

Cloud nods, but his expression doesn't match his answer.

Zack looks over the edge and tries to reach for Cloud, but couldn't go out any further without risking himself on falling over too.

"Damnit! Uh, Cloud! See if you can climb in a little!" Zack suggested.

Barret looks in panic at the mako reactor and at the situation before him.

"It's gonna blow! I'm sorry, but we have to go Tifa!" He insisted.

Tifa looks to him in desperation, "Please Barret! Can't you do something?"

"No! Not a damn thing! Heck if Zack can't get him out, then what can I do?" Barret said.

"Cloud! Please don't die! You can't die! There's still so much I want to tell you!" Tifa cried, near tears.

Zack thought the exact same thing. Barret yelled out again.

"Hey, are you gonna be alright?" He asked.

Cloud nodded, "You worry about yourselves! I'll be alright! Please, take care of Tifa!"

Barret nods, his face filled with guilt, "Alright...I'm so sorry about this."

Cloud shouts at the three of them, "Stop talking as if this is the end!"

"Alright then. Promise we'll see each other again later!" Barret yelled just as the explosions begins to go off.

The vibrations from the explosion causes Cloud to lose his grip from the metal he's hanging onto and falls off the reactor. Zack attempts one more time to reach and reach for his hand, but he was too far away.

Tifa was pulled back to safety by Barret. The three of them watch in agony as the blonde man began to fall into the abyss beneath the plate and into the slums.

Tifa immediately pulls out her radio to contact Chorale and inform her of what has happened.

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed! Until next time...**


	4. A Flower Blooming in the Slums

**New chapters are always exciting!**

* * *

 **Disc 1 (The Church): Flower Blooming in the Slums**

Cloud stopped falling awhile ago. But his entire world is still pitch black. No matter how hard he tried, he just can't seem to go back to reality. The only things that fill the darkness around him are the tiny voices he hears every now and then.

 _"...You alright?...Can you hear me?"_ It asked.

 _"...Yeah..."_ Cloud replied in his mind.

 _"Back then...you could just get by with skinned knees..."_ The voice said.

 _"...What do you mean 'back then?'"_ Cloud wondered.

 _"What about now? Can you get up?"_

 _"...What do you mean by 'that time?' What about now?"_ asked Cloud.

The voice paused for a second before speaking again.

 _"...Don't worry about me. You just worry about yourself now."_

Suddenly, another voice jumped in. This voice sounded nothing at all like the voice inside Cloud. The voice sounded much more conscious and spirited. Not to mention also very feminine and gentle.

"Oh! It moved! Whew...boy, am I glad." The female voice said.

The previous voice from Cloud's mind spoke once again.

 _"...How about that? Take it slow now. Little by little..."_

Cloud's eyes begin to stir and his pitch black world suddenly begins to let in tiny streams of light that just gets brighter.

"Hello? Hello?" The female voice asked.

 _"...I know. Hey... Who are you?"_ Cloud thought for a moment there, his consciousness beginning to return to him.

"Hello! Hello!"

* * *

The light fills up Cloud's entire vision and he opens his eyes to let more of it in. As he returns to reality, he blinks a couple of times to clear up his vision. Eventually, he sees the high wooden ceiling with a large gaping hole through its top.

Regaining his strength again, Cloud sits up from the rather comfortable floor, only to realize that it's not a floor, but a large flower patch.

The place he is in is a run down old church and kneeling on the edge of the flower patch before he is a lovely young woman.

She looks to be about twenty and has long light brown hair tied in a braid behind her. She wears a long light pink dress matched with a dark pink short sleeved jacket. To complete the look, she has a pretty pink bow at the back of her head where her braid is.

A look of concern is on her petite face.

"You okay? This is a church in the Sector 7 slums. You suddenly came crashing down. It really gave me a scare," she explained.

Cloud looked around the whole area. Realizing what had just happened.

"...I came crashing down?" He asked.

"The roof and the flower bed must have broken your fall. You're lucky," the young woman said.

Cloud immediately realized what he was sitting upon and leaped to his feet.

"Sorry about that," he quickly apologized.

Cloud and the young woman in pink started up a conversation about the flowers in this church. The young woman explains that they are extremely sacred, and they would only grow here.

She also mentions that she owns a materia that does absolutely nothing, much to Cloud's surprise. She keeps it because it was from her mother.

After a few moments, Cloud also realized that the woman was the one from the plate above selling flowers in the street. He met her right after the explosion at mako reactor 1.

She kneels down to check on her flowers before standing up again.

She looks to Cloud, "Just a little longer. Oh! I just realized...we don't exactly know each other right? I'm Aeris, the flower girl. Nice to meet you."

Cloud smiled as he introduced himself to her, "The name's Cloud. And well...um...I do a little bit of everything."

Aeris nods in understanding, "Oh...a jack of all trades."

She started to laugh for unknown reasons to Cloud.

 _Spiky hair...a large sword...blue mako eyes...is that a SOLDIER uniform?...and he fell through the roof...not to mention also seems a bit cocky...just like someone I once knew..._

Suddenly, Aeris caught sight of someone entering the church. Her eyes flew open and fill up with fear, as she realizes who it was.

 _It's Reno._

The redheaded stranger wore a dark suit in a rather sluggish manner. He carried a large electrical rod-like stick and was accompanied by three infantrymen.

Cloud caught Aeris's gaze and turned around to see the redheaded man, who casually waved a hand at him.

"Don't worry about me," he said.

Despite that, Cloud knew who he was and what he does. It was one of the ShinRa Turks, a group of people who does all of the company's dirty work. Be it spying, kidnapping, stealing, assassinations. Cloud protectively stands in front of Aeris.

She whispered to him., "Say, Cloud. Have you ever been a bodyguard? You DO do everything right?"

Cloud slowly nodded, "...Yeah, that's right." He confirms.

"Then get me out of here. Take me home," Aeris demanded. She sounded a bit desperate.

"Ok, I'll do it...but it'll cost you," Cloud replied.

Aeris thought for a bit, before coming up with something, "Well then, let's see...how about if I—"

"Cloud!" A voice suddenly shouted.

Cloud and Aeris both looked up to see one of the infantrymen by the entrance get pushed off to the side.

Chorale enters the church, looking exasperated and out of breath. Beside her, the redheaded man's eyes grew as large as two sauce pans as he got a good look at her face.

"Cloud are you alright? Tifa contacted me on the radio and told what happened. I searched all around Sector 5 as fast as I could!" She explained.

Cloud began to panic due to Chorale's close proximity to the redhead.

"Chorale! Get away from him!" He shouted.

Chorale looked to her left to meet the eyes of the Turk. Her hand goes back to reach for the handle of her katana. The infantrymen see her move and immediately point their guns at her.

"Well, Reno? Do you to take them all out?" The first infantryman asked.

Reno strictly turned to face him.

"Lower your guns! Did I say to attack? No, okay? So get that straight."

He shook his head and turned to Chorale again.

A smirk crossing his face, "Well, I'll be damned. It isn't every day that you get to see a lookalike of somebody. Damn...I'm impressed."

Cloud shouted out to Chorale again, "Chorale, get over here this instant!"

She glanced from Reno to Cloud, trying to decide what to do. In the end, she shook her head and gave Reno a glare before running over to Cloud. The infantrymen looked to Reno in confusion.

"Hey, what was that for? We had a good opening!" He yelled at Reno.

"Zip it shorty. I haven't decided what to do yet," Reno replied.

Aeris stepped forward and fiercely shook her head, "No! You can't fight here! You'll ruin the flowers!"

With that, she turned around and gestured for Cloud and Chorale to follow her.

"The exit is back there."

The three of them rushed towards the back of the church where a large set of run-down wooden stairs were located.

* * *

Reno stepped forward from the entrance calmly and casually, but the expression on his face said otherwise. When he was sent down here to retrieve the flower girl, he hadn't expected to see this.

"They were...mako eyes," he said aloud as he thought of the strange blonde man dressed in a SOLDIER first class uniform.

Then his thoughts shifted to the other mysterious girl that just abruptly entered.

"That girl...her eyes...hair...voice...but that face...she's mixed race. Just like Chorale," Reno wondered.

Memories and flashbacks began to occur as he walked over Aeris's flower bed.

 _Reno was kneeling in front of an unseen young girl, giving her a high five. They were inside a large training room in the ShinRa building._

 _"Great job kiddo, looks like you'll be one heck of a gunner once you're all grown up," he praised._

 _The unseen young girl looked up at him and nodded._

 _"Thank you, Reno. Thanks a ton for helping me."_

Reno shook his head as he returned to reality. He began laughing a little.

"Wow, that fangirl is one heck of a cosplayer! Alright. Back to work. Back to work," he commanded to the infantrymen.

* * *

In the back of the church, Aeris leads the way through the set of stairs that goes all the way up to the rafters. Cloud and Chorale keep up behind her before they all stop in front of a large gap. Cloud moved the front to examine the gap.

At the bottom of the stairwell, Reno, and the infantrymen looked up to find the three runaways on the rafters. Reno pointed directly at Aeris.

"There they are, over there!" He shouted.

Aeris looked in panic at the group of people below her. She turned to Cloud for help. He gave her a confirming look.

"I know. Looks like they aren't going to let us go," he said.

Aeris asked, "What should we do?"

"What else can we do?" Chorale wondered.

Cloud looked ahead of him. The determination was set in his eyes, "Only one thing left to do then."

With that, he jumped the gap in the rafters. He turned around to face the two women.

"Come on guys, this way."

Aeris looked a bit uncertain about jumping. Chorale gently encourages her to go on.

"Come on Aeris, you can do it. We have to leave now."

Aeris sighed and nodded in agreement, "Okay, I'm coming."

Suddenly, the infantrymen below them shouted.

"The Ancient is getting away! Attack! Attack! Attack!"

Several bullets were fired at Aeris and Chorale, causing the two of them to lose balance and fall over the rafters they were standing on.

Luckily, Chorale managed to grab hold of the wooden board they were standing on just in time with one hand, and catch Aeris's arm with the other.

Aeris grabbed hold of Chorale's arm with both hands as she dangled dangerously over the stairs.

"Ahhh!" She cried.

Chorale looked up at Cloud who was shocked at the situation.

"Goddammit Cloud! Help us!"

Reno glanced up at the two women dangling over the edge of the rafters.

"They shouldn't have put up a fight," he sighed.

Cloud prepared to jump the gap again to provide some aid.

"Hang on, I'm coming!"

Chorale shouted at the top of her lungs to stop him from jumping.

"No! Don't! This piece of wood is already starting to crumble from the weight of two people suddenly pulling it down. If there's one more person upon this thing, we'll all fall down!" She explained. "It's okay, though. I'm able to pull both of us up. I just need time. Can you stall them?"

Cloud looked at the ShinRa guards that are gradually making their way up the stairs and closer to the rafters. Then he looked at Aeris, who was white with fear.

Cloud nods at Chorale as an answer before running to the top of the rafters where several barrels are located. He runs over to the barrel on the far left corner of the rooftop.

The barrel falls over the edge and lands directly on top of the infantrymen at the bottom of the stairwell.

Chorale takes this opportunity to let Aeris climb up her arm and onto her back. This way, Chorale could use both arms to cling onto the edge of the wooden platform they're on.

Cloud sees another infantryman running up the bottom half of the stairs and rushes over to the barrel on the right side of the rooftop right in front of him.

Pushing the barrel over, it falls down and rolls onto the infantryman trying to climb up the stairs.

As soon as that infantryman fell over, Chorale gently hoisted Aeris up towards the platform with her shoulders. Aeris grabs hold of the wooden platform with both arms and pulls the rest of her body onto it.

Aeris then turns around and bends down to grab hold of Chorale's hands and help her up onto the platform as well. The second Chorale gets onto the platform, the two of them jumps over the gap and runs towards Cloud up on the top rafters.

He called out to them, "Guys, this way."

The three of them make their way across the wooden beams supporting the roof towards the large hole in it that leads to the outside of the building.

* * *

Once they've reached outside, Cloud, Aeris, and Chorale all sat on the rooftop to rest.

Aeris started the conversation, "Haha...they're looking for me again."

"You mean that's not the first time they went after you?" Cloud asked. Chorale also joined the conversation, curious.

"Who is that guy in the suit anyways?" She asked.

Cloud turned to look at Chorale, a serious expression on his face.

"He's a member of the Turks. They work for ShinRa and scout possible candidates for the SOLDIER program," he explained.

"They're also involved in lots of dirty work that ShinRa doesn't want to get their hands upon. You know, like spying, murder, kidnapping, etcetera," Aeris continued on.

Chorale nodded in understanding.

"I see. That's why you told me to get away from him. You know, I saw another guy who was in the exact same suit as him back at the mako reactor. He was bald and wore sunglasses, but he seemed really quiet. I didn't know what they did at that time," she admitted.

Aeris smiled at Chorale.

"It's okay. You know now, but I'm surprised. Usually, lots of people know about the Turks. That's why they would avoid them."

Chorale looked down sadly. Cloud gently put a hand on Aeris's shoulder.

"Umm. There's something I have to mention. Chorale here is in a severe case of amnesia. She has no memory whatsoever of who she is, or where she came from. My friends and I are trying to help her regain her memories right now," Cloud whispered in Aeris's ear.

Aeris looked shocked and guilty.

"I—I'm so sorry! I didn't know! It must be horrible to be this way," she sympathized.

Chorale smiled at Aeris, shaking her hands.

"No, it's okay. I'm learning about life again, little by little each day. This feeling, is really refreshing. It's not all that bad."

Cloud cleared his throat to have the two females' attention.

"Well ladies, if we're all done resting and chatting, then I'll say it's time to move on!"

* * *

Cloud leads the way across the metal mismatched rooftops across the top of Sector 5. He easily jumps and leaps from roof to roof with perfect balance and speed.

Directly behind him is Chorale, who manages to keep up with Cloud's speed, albeit with a bit of breathlessness.

Aeris however, had to call out for them to wait up.

"Wait!" She cried.

The young flower girl takes her time in jumping across the rooftops, making sure she's maintained her balance before moving onto the next. Eventually, she catches up with the pair in front.

" _Puff...wheeze..._ slow down...don't leave me," she gasped.

Cloud shrugged his shoulders.

"No can do. Besides, didn't I say that the Turks scout for possible SOLDIER members? They must have thought you were cut out to be one," he said sarcastically.

Aeris gasped at Cloud with wide eyes.

"Oh, you're terrible!" She muttered, causing the three of them to laugh.

Chorale stifled her laughter before speaking.

"Don't listen to him Aeris. The only girl he'll ever wait for is the lovely bartender of Seventh Heaven," she singsonged.

Cloud turned fifty shades of red and quietly muttered.

"Tha—that's not exactly true...I mean it's not like how you think it is!" He stuttered.

Chorale and Aeris doubled over with laughter. Aeris then took a good look at Cloud again. Her mind began racing as memories of her old sweetheart resurfaced.

"Hey, Cloud...were you ever in SOLDIER?" Aeris suddenly asked.

"I used to be. How did you know?" Cloud answered.

"Your eyes have a strange glow to them."

Aeris pondered on the subject of mako blue eyes. The colour of the sky...

Cloud nodded.

"That's the mark of a SOLDIER, who's been infused in mako. How did you know?"

Aeris shook her head as more painful memories came up. A frown crossed her face, but quickly disappeared. Like a cloud on a sunny day.

"Nothing important. Come on! We shouldn't be wasting our time here!"

* * *

Eventually, the three friends made their way to the end of the chain of houses. Cloud jumped across the last roof and down onto the streets of the slums. Aeris and Chorale followed after him.

Aeris stretched her arms up to the sky and looked to Cloud.

"Whew! Finally made it off! Now what..."

She looks around the area, taking in the layout of the houses and the several other details to identify where they are in the slums.

"My house is this way. Come on, before they come back," she commanded.

Aeris leads the way down a large soiled street with all sorts of trash strewn around it. The nearby houses barely looked habitable as they seemed to be made out of random items that nobody would really use to make a home out of.

Cloud averted his gaze from the shabby houses and trash that was thrown down from the plate above. Instead, he focused on Aeris, and her leading them casually through the slums of Midgar.

Chorale however, couldn't help but look at her surroundings in awe and pity.

 _So this is how life in the slums is really like. The people here are so neglected, like a lost hopeless lost little bird. ShinRa...are they responsible for the treatment of the slums too?_

 _ShinRa...why do sparks fly around my head whenever that name is mentioned? Why did that redhead Turk, 'Reno' was it? Reno said I looked like someone he knows or knew. Why?_

Aeris continues walking through the streets of Sector 5 until they've reached a giant stone wall with the entrance being only one rugged hole. A brown haired man and a redhead man was blocking the entrance way.

"Aaaaah...what a drag. You wanna go to that store in Sector 6 again?" The brown haired man asked.

"Huh? The hell with you? The hell do you think you're talking to?" The redhead man exasperated.

Cloud gently tugs at Aeris to keep her at a good distance from the two men at the entrance of the stone wall. He leads them to the other way. Not too far from in front of them, was an old sewer pipe.

The pipe looked old and abandoned but as they got closer, they realized that the inside of it has been turned into a tiny shelter.

A tiny shelter that seemed to be the home of a very weak and frail man, wearing an oversized black cloak.

He sat inside his little pipe, hiding his face from the world. Outside of the pipe, another man shakes his head and sighs, before turning to Cloud and co.

"That guy in the pipe's a weird one. No matter what you ask him, he only answers 'ugh' or 'aah,'" the man explained.

A look of concern and pity crossed Aeris's eyes.

"This guy is sick. He passed out nearby and someone must have helped him here," she said to Cloud and Chorale.

Cloud cautiously stepped into the pipe, curious about the strange man inside. Aeris and Chorale carefully followed him from behind. Once they got in, the black cloaked man did not stir or move. He did not acknowledge their presence.

All he did was continue to moan and groan.

Aeris couldn't help but ask Cloud, "This is the one...won't you help him?"

Cloud took a closer look at the man before shaking his head. He felt some weird vibes coming from the guy, it made him feel insecure and unsafe. Cloud knew that he had to get out of the pipe.

"Listen, I'm no doctor," he explained while sighing.

Aeris shrugged her shoulders.

"No...I guess not...hey. That man has a tattoo. I think it was the number 2?" She remarked.

Chorale crossed her arms while tilting her head.

"Well, that's strange. 'Wonder what it could be. Do you think it might represent something?"

Cloud was already up and walking towards the outside of the pipe. He gestured for them to leave as well before answering Chorale's question.

"That tattoo is probably just a coincidence. Nothing really important I guess," Cloud stated.

The three of them continued onward towards Aeris's home.

* * *

Aeris walked them into the central slums via a large metal door. The central slum was a large area with a bunch of mismatched markets and stores all over the place. People sold things, that ranges from weapons to materia to everyday necessities.

As Cloud talked to more people in the area, he realized that the opinions of living in Midgar varied from each person.

There was a shopkeeper who does not trust ShinRa nor Avalanche, thus keeping to himself from the outside world. There was a little kid who wished to one day live in the city above.

Eventually, the three of them reached Aeris's home. The place almost seemed like a different world, set apart from the rest of the slums.

There were gardens of flowers all around and a little waterfall in the backdrop, giving the place a nice natural feel. Cloud couldn't help but walk towards the large patches of flowers and admire the beauty and colours.

Chorale stayed behind with Aeris, who was standing next to the front door of her house. Aeris smiled and turned to Chorale.

"Hello. Chorale? Is it? I'm sorry, we weren't properly introduced to each other. I'm Aeris Gainsborough," Aeris said, holding out a hand.

Chorale shook her hand, glad to have patched things up since the incident at the church.

"Pleased to meet you. I'm just Chorale. Oh, and Aeris?" She asked.

"Yeah?" Aeris replied.

"Ummm, according to what I saw back at the church, why is ShinRa after you? Do you know anything about them?" Chorale asked hesitantly.

Aeris turned serious.

"All that I know is that they want me to fill their greed. ShinRa is always like that. Wanting to get what they want, the way they want, and how fast they want it. That's why they sent that guy in the dark suit. Remember that redhead? He's a member of the Turks. They do ShinRa's bidding and get paid for it. Never trust them, Chorale. Never."

Chorale nods slowly, trying to wipe out the memory of the flashback she had back at the church. But she can't deny the fact...she knew that redhead Turk...well she doesn't know him now...but, she knew him once.

Why is it that fate had made it, that the only connection she has to regain her memory is through the most hated people in the world?

"What's going on girls?" Cloud asked, suddenly appearing in front of them. He returned from his little tour around the flower garden.

"Not much. Just getting to know each other a bit. Anyways, you guys must be exhausted. Come on in," Aeris answered with a grin.

With that, Aeris opened the door and gestured for them to enter the humble house.

* * *

The inside of the house was extremely cozy and organized. There was wooden furniture with simple decorations upon them, and a clean little kitchen with all sorts of ingredients stored in their proper places.

Chorale took a whiff of the aroma around her and gently sighed. The air was scented with the smell of something fresh baking.

"I'm home mom," Aeris called out to her unseen mother.

She soon appeared from the top of the wooden staircase. The middle aged brunette woman wore a simple green dress and white apron. She smiled upon seeing her daughter and walked down the stairs to greet her.

"Welcome home dear. Oh, and who are these people that you've brought?" She asked, noticing the blonde young man and dark haired young woman.

Aeris turned around to face her friends and introduced them to her mother.

"This is Cloud. He was my bodyguard on the way home. Oh, and this is Chorale. She's a friend of his, and she also helped me back at the church," Aeris explained.

Aeris's mother frowned.

"Bodyguard? Were you followed again? Are you alright? You're not hurt, right?" She expressed concern.

Aeris shook her head, "No, I'm alright. I had the two of them with me."

Aeris's mother turned to the two Avalanche members. Gratitude shining on her face.

"Thank you, Cloud. Chorale. I'm Elmyra Gainsborough. If you guys need anything, I'll be upstairs," she replied as she turned around and walked back up.

As soon as Elmyra disappears into the upstairs floor, Aeris turns around to face her two new friends.

"So, what are you guys going to do now?" She asked playfully.

"...Is Sector 7 far from here? We should be heading back to Tifa's bar," Cloud admitted.

Aeris tilted her head and walked closer, a look of suspicion and curiosity filled her eyes.

"Tifa? Isn't that the girl that Chorale mentioned earlier? The 'only girl you'll ever wait for?' Is she your girlfriend?" Aeris asked, smirking as she did.

Cloud's face turned as a ripe as a tomato as Aeris began to laugh while Chorale shook her head and merely chuckled at Cloud's expression.

"I'm just teasing! Don't worry. Anyways, if you two want to return to Sector 7, I'll show you the way," Aeris offered.

Cloud's face stopped reddening and turned serious again.

"You've got to be kidding! Why would you want to put yourself in danger again?" Cloud asked.

"I'm used to it," Aeris shrugged.

"Used to it!? Well, I don't know...getting help from a girl..." Cloud began.

That cause Aeris and Chorale to both explode. Their jaws dropped and their eyes flared dangerously at the blonde ex-SOLDIER. Cloud immediately saw his mistake and quickly put his hands up in submission.

"A girl!? What do you mean by that!?" Aeris yelled.

"My gosh, Cloud! I didn't know you were such a sexist!" Chorale cried.

Aeris nodded in agreement, "I know right? Do you really expect me to just sit down and listen, after hearing you say something like that!?

The flower girl snorted as she turned towards the staircase.

"Mom! I'm taking Cloud and Chorale to Sector 7! I'll be back in awhile."

Elmyra appeared at the stairs again, this time, a bit quicker. The woman looked very worried, but tired at the same time.

"What? But dear...sigh. I give up. You never listen once you've made up your mind. But if you must go, why don't you go tomorrow? It's getting late now," she suggested.

Aeris thought for a bit before nodding, "You're right mom."

"Aeris, please go make the bed," Elmyra demanded.

Aeris nodded before going upstairs to do as her mother asked. Elmyra turned to Cloud, she looked at the intensity of his eyes.

"That glow in your eyes...you're from SOLDIER aren't you?" She asked cautiously.

"Yeah. Or rather, I used to be..." Cloud explained.

"...I don't know how to say this but...can leave tonight? Please...without telling Aeris. SOLDIER...sigh. The last thing Aeris needs is for her feelings to be hurt again," Elmyra explained.

The woman folded her arms and sighed.

 _It's been five years and Aeris is still not completely over the disappearance of her first love...s_ he thought.

Cloud blinked in confusion at Elmyra's words but understood what she meant by leaving. He nodded at her and walked upstairs. Chorale, however, stayed put and looked down at the ground anxiously.

Elmyra looked at the young woman before her.

"Dear, are you not going up to rest as well? You don't look too good. What's wrong?" She asked gently.

Chorale looked out the window before looking at Elmyra.

"I'm sorry, but I can't stay the night. I really need to get back to Sector 7. As in right now."

"Why? Can't you wait until your SOLDIER friend comes down? It's not safe right now..." Elmyra stated.

"I don't mind. Listen, I've got someone waiting for me back there. I told her that I would be back tonight," she explained.

"Who?"

"My young daughter. Her name's Allie, she's only four, and I told her that I would be back from my mission today. Please understand Elmyra, from a mother to mother perspective. I need to go back." Chorale insisted.

Elmyra finally understood, "I see. But you will stay safe out there, right? Do you know the way back to Sector 7 from here?"

"Umm, Tifa once told me that there was a maze in Sector 6 that I'm supposed to go through to get there, am I right?" Chorale asked.

Elmyra nodded, "Yes. After that, the entrance to Sector 7 should be right in front of the children's playground. Please be safe, Chorale."

Chorale smiled before heading out the door.

"Don't worry, I will. Thank you, Elmyra."

* * *

On the second floor, Cloud met Aeris outside of her bedroom. She turned around to face him.

"You need to go through Sector 6 to get to Sector 7. Sector 6 is a little dangerous so you'd better get some rest tonight," Aeris said to the blonde SOLDIER. "Cloud...good night."

She turned around to walk back downstairs, leaving Cloud by himself on the second floor. He shook his head and put his hands behind him, thinking of how on the planet did he get this innocent bystander girl into his Avalanche's mess.

"Oh man..." he sighed.

Just then, Elmyra appears from the staircase and walks up to him.

"Cloud? Oh good, Aeris isn't here. Um, listen. Your friend, Chorale, left already," she explained.

"What? Why didn't she wait for me?" Cloud asked.

"She needed to—no, she wanted to get back to her daughter again. You understand that, right?"

Cloud sighed, "Well, I guess. She's a fighter. I'm sure she'll be safe. Anyways, I promise that I'll leave sometime tonight."

Elmyra nods in approval.

"Good. Well, I bid you good night."

* * *

In the comfort of the guest bed, Cloud stared at the ceiling.

"...sigh...seem pretty tired...I haven't slept in a bed like this in a long time...Oh yeah...ever since that time..." Cloud thought as his eyelids began to flutter shut.

 _In a flashback, Cloud appears back in his old house, in Niblheim. He is lying down on the kitchen carpet, while his mother walked over to gaze at him._

 _"My, my, look at how you've grown. I bet that the girls never leave you alone," Cloud's mother said in pride._

 _Cloud shook his head while spreading his arms and legs across the soft material of the carpet._

 _"...Not really."_

 _..."I'm worried about you. There are a lot of temptations in the city. I'd feel a lot better if you'd just settle down and have a nice girlfriend," Cloud's mom said._

 _"...I'm alright," Cloud assured his mother._

 _"You...should have an older girlfriend! One that'll take care of you. I think that would be the perfect type!" Cloud's mom gushed._

 _Cloud sits upright on the carpet, shaking his head with unamused eyes._

 _"I'm not interested."_

* * *

The room was dark when Cloud opened his eyes. He groggily sits up on the bed and leans against his arms.

"...I must've fallen asleep. Sector 7 is past Sector 6...I should be all right by myself," Cloud said in his mind.

He quietly got up to his feet and walked towards the door of the bedroom. He opens the door slowly, being careful not create any creaks in the hinges. The door did not make any sound as Cloud entered the hallway.

From there, he carefully tiptoes his way across the wooden floor and towards the staircase. Once he got down, he quickly scrambled down the steps and walked out of the front door, quietly shutting it behind him as he left.

The outside was quiet, there wasn't much activity now in the slums. Cloud took this chance and ran from the house to the Central Slums district.

Near the break of dawn, the marketplace seemed peaceful, not a lot of gangs were out to cause any ruckus.

Cloud ran past the stalls and tiny buildings of stores, and towards the path that leads towards the giant rock wall, the entrance to Sector 6. He smiled as he nears the rock wall, proud of his successful escape from the house.

Suddenly, his smile disappears from his face and he stops running, as he looks up and sees the person that stands between him and the entrance to Sector 6.

It was Aeris.

She puts both hands on her hips and smirks at Cloud.

"You're up bright and early."

Cloud's jaw dropped in shock.

"How could I ask you to come along if it's going to be dangerous?" He cried.

"Are you done?" Aeris asked, completely ignoring Cloud's question.

The blonde ex-SOLDIER sighs and scratches his head sheepishly, knowing that the flower girl's mind was made up.

"You have to go through the slums in Sector 6 to get to Tifa's Seventh Heaven. I'll take you there, come on!" Aeris cried.

She ran forward into Sector 6. Before Cloud could stop her, she was already ahead of him. Without much choice, he runs after her.

* * *

 **That's it for this chapter. Sorry that it took so long! I had a lot to worry about, for one, I had my piano exam (which is over now, thank god!). But now, I've got to study for my school exams! Hopefully, I'll get more chapters done during the summer. Thank you for your understanding readers!**


	5. The Don and Miss Cloudia

**New chapter has arrived! Sorry if it looks a bit rushed, I'll do a better job next time promise. Anyways, please like, review, follow...and what was it again? Oh right! And share! Thanks!**

* * *

 **Disc 1 (Wall Market): The Don and Miss Cloudia**

Aeris and Cloud walked into the Sector 6 area. This place was truly a maze composed of all kinds of constructional items, most likely thrown from the upper plate.

Cloud adjusted his eyes to the darkness of the early dawn before leading the way through the compilation of concrete and machinery.

He headed towards the wooden board that acted as a ramp, to get onto the raised road concrete. From there, he and Aeris crossed the metal plank that leads to another concrete platform.

They walked around the bend of the platform towards the right, and got to the dented pink ladder.

Walking down the ladder to level ground again, they walked underneath the platform they just crossed and the metal plank as well. The two people passed by the broken-down crane and got to a long plank of wood.

From there, they got onto the last concrete platform and rushed to the other side, where another wooden board led them to the ground again and out the sector.

* * *

Early morning light began to break through the dawn and shine into the slums. A large children's playground was in front of the exit of the sector. There was a swings set and a slide with a large dome with the face of a cuddly cat. Aeris pointed up ahead to the large gate in the stone wall.

"The gate to Sector 7's in there," she explained. Cloud nodded his head. He turned to Aeris.

"Thanks. I guess this is goodbye. Are you gonna be alright going home?" He asked.

Aeris opened her eyes with shock, '"Oh no! 'What ever will I do?'" She exclaimed in a fake dramatic tone.

She smirked at the ex-SOLDIER and crossed her arms, "Isn't that what you want me to say?"

Cloud smiled as well before shrugging his shoulders. He pointed his thumb towards the entrance of Sector 7, as if hinting her desire to come along.

Aeris cocked her head to one side.

"I could do that. But won't I be in your way?" She gently asked.

Cloud became confused, "What do you mean 'in the way?'"

"Nothing!" Aeris said cheekily. "Can we take a break?"

Her eyes wandered to the large slide with the cat face.

"I can't believe it's still here," she mumbled.

Aeris ran towards the slide and immediately climbed onto the top of the dome with the cat face. She pats the open space beside her and waves to Cloud.

"Cloud over here!" She cried.

The blonde man looked hesitant about this, but then shrugged it off and walked over to slide. He climbed up the side of the cat dome and Aeris moved over to make some more space for him. Cloud sits down beside the flower girl, looking off into the distance.

This was one of the few times he ever got to just relax and reflect on life and how things are currently.

Aeris nervously glances over at Cloud before breaking the silence.

"What rank were you?" She asked.

Cloud looked at her, not exactly understanding her question.

"Rank?"

Aeris nodded, her expression has gotten serious.

"You know. In SOLDIER," she explained.

"Oh I was..."

Cloud began but then trailed off. His memory tried to go back to when he was in SOLDIER, but for some strange reason, he couldn't fathom out anything from the time when he was in the program. All he knows is that he was in SOLDIER and that he was ranked...

"First class," Cloud finished.

Aeris averted her eyes to her knees bit her lip.

"Just the same as him," she said in barely audible voice.

Cloud heard it though, "The same as who?"

Aeris looked up again, her eyes trailed off into the distance. Although she wasn't facing in Cloud's direction, he could see the pain in her eyes. Aeris took a few seconds and sighed, before answering Cloud's question.

"My first boyfriend," she replied.

Cloud then realized that this topic is something very sensitive to her and looked away from her. He thought of something to ask.

"Oh. Um, were you two...serious?" He asked, out of curiosity.

 _I might know this guy. I could tell Aeris what happened to him,_ Cloud thought.

Aeris thought deeply for a few moments before answering.

"Were we serious? I don't know. But he was such a big influence in my life. I...really owe a lot to him. He made me feel like a normal girl, not an Ancient girl. But then, one day, he left on a mission to Niblheim and never came back."

Cloud thought for awhile. _Left on a mission to Niblheim? I went on a mission there too once! Maybe I saw him there!_

"I probably knew him. What was his name?" Cloud quickly asked, wanting to help Aeris.

"It doesn't really matter...fine, it's Zack. He umm...has spiky black hair, dark as night! His eyes were like the sky on a clear afternoon, and here's the weird part. He had a sword that looked exactly like yours!" Aeris exclaimed.

Suddenly, the gate to Sector 7 opened...

* * *

 _Earlier that day, at Seventh Heaven..._

"Am I supposed to believe that you're also a 'former member of SOLDIER'!?" Barret cried as he tried to launch another punch at the dark haired man, Zack, sitting in a wooden chair in front of him.

Tifa and Biggs restrained him from doing so. Jessie helped Zack sit up properly in the chair. Chorale rushed down the stairs, Allie was in a carrier on her back. She goes up to Barret.

"Barret that's enough! Lets hear him out!" She begged.

Barret shook his head, "I don't need to! We already heard him out anyways! He claimed to be a fugitive of ShinRa after he escaped from their science experiments in Niblheim. That, I can believe. But then he says that he also rescued Cloud from that place too!"

Tifa stayed silent. She thought of questions to ask Zack. Questions that would help her understand what happened to Cloud.

"Now hold on Barret. Maybe he is telling the truth. Remember the first time when Tifa brought in Cloud. Well we were all suspicious too, until after our first mission together. Just give the guy a chance," Wedge suggested.

Zack straightened his jaw from Barret's previous punches.

"Fine, don't believe me if you want. But I'm telling you. Just ask Tifa. Tifa!" He cried to the bartender.

Tifa turned to look at Zack, a cold expression on her face.

"What do you want?" She asked.

Zack looked at her with pleading eyes, "You were there five years ago! Remember me? I was the SOLDIER along with Sephiroth that was assigned to the mission in Niblheim! I saw you! You saw me too! You were our tour guide! Please Tifa!"

Tifa's anger flared at the mention of Sephiroth's name.

"Yeah, I remember the events quite clearly. It was because of you guys that Niblheim burned to the ground that day. Don't expect any sympathy out of me," she said as she turned to walk away.

Barret cracked his knuckles, ready for more interrogation, "ShinRa scumbags. They're all the same! Am I seriously to believe your story SOLDIER? We already have Cloud up our sleeves, we don't need another fugitive guy!"

"Wait! Cloud? You think that he's a member of SOLDIER?" Zack suddenly questioned.

This caused Tifa to stop in her tracks and turn around again, this time, with more interest.

"Cloud is...was...never a member of SOLDIER in the first place! He was one of the infantrymen that came with me to Niblheim five years ago! After the events of fire, he and I were captured by Professor Hojo of ShinRa and experimented on!" Zack cried.

Barret snorted, "Nice try SOLDIER."

He raised his fist, but before it could be brought down, a hand quickly grabbed his arm.

It was Tifa.

"Wait! I want to hear him out."

Tifa quickly grabbed another chair for herself and placed it in front of Zack. She nodded for him to continue.

Zack looked at her suspiciously at first, but then saw that she genuinely wanted to listen to what he has to say.

"Alright then. Let me explain this. Cloud was one of the two infantrymen who was part of the mission that day. He saw you Tifa. He kind of told me about you, seemed like he really cared. Anyways, after Sephiroth burned the town, Cloud and I got injured while trying to fight him. Then, ShinRa came to clean up the mess and to get rid of any witnesses. Well, Hojo took Cloud and I in for mako experiments," Zack explained.

"Mako experiments? So that explains the glow in Cloud's eyes," Biggs remarked.

"Yeah, but it was due to mako poisoning from the experiments that Cloud was left in a near catatonic state for awhile. After a I escaped with him, I dragged him across the continents to get back to Midgar. We had to constantly avoid ShinRa guards and Turks who were on the search for us," Zack said.

Tifa squinted her eyes, "Why go back to Midgar? It's probably the most dangerous place to be at in your situation."

"I had someone waiting here for me. I had to see her again. Eventually, when Cloud and I finally got the edges of Midgar, I was faced by a whole army of infantrymen. They took all of my strength away and...left me to die.

Cloud...he crawled up to me and I gave him my Buster sword, so he could continue on in life. I really thought I was going to die that day...but then this man, Mr. Ichus, he found me on his way home from traveling and healed me up. So here I am now..."

The whole room was silent as soon as Zack stopped talking. Tifa took a few breaths and went over everything Zack told her. She finally decided to speak up.

"Barret, I believe him," Tifa confessed.

Barret's jaw dropped and was about to protest when Tifa stopped him again.

"I believe him because it's true. I was there that day, five years ago. I did see him. But I didn't see Cloud, and now I know why. Honestly, I've been hiding this for awhile, but when Cloud claimed to have been a former SOLDIER first class, I didn't believe him," she explained.

"I thought, since the day I brought Cloud here, that something was off with him. He wasn't the childhood friend that I remember. It was like...he was a different man, just inside of Cloud's body. But now it all makes sense," Tifa said.

Barret calmed down a little and looked directly at Tifa.

"Tifa. I want you to look into my eyes and tell me that everything that this man said is true."

Tifa did as he asked her too.

"Yes." She answered sternly.

Barret looked to Zack, then to Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie. Finally, he looked at Chorale. All of them were looking at him, hoping that he would go on with this.

"Fine. If Tifa says it's true, it's good enough for me. Welcome to the team."

Everyone gave Barret a good pat on the back and Zack let out a deep sigh of relief. Chorale stops the cheering.

"Whoa, whoa, wait. Barret, wasn't there something that you wanted to do?" She asked.

Barret scratched his head, then his memory caught up with him.

"What? Oh right! Tifa, are you sure you want to go through with this. I'm telling you, the Don is not a man you'd want to get involved with."

"I've decided to go. We need to know what he information he has on ShinRa's plans. Like it or not, but someone has to do it. And I'm volunteering myself."

* * *

 _Currently..._

The gate to Sector 7 opened and out emerged a carriage being drawn by a chocobo. But what really got Cloud's attention is the girl standing on the back of it. Tifa was on the back of the carriage, oblivious to the man she just passed.

"Huh? Hey, back there...Tifa!?" Cloud cried, not believing what he is seeing.

Aeris catches his gaze and also sees the girl he's looking at.

"That girl in the cart was Tifa? Where is she going?" Aeris asked before jumping off the dome and running after the direction the carriage went.

Cloud yelled after her, "Wait! I'll go on alone! You go home!"

But it was too late, Aeris was already far ahead. Cloud sighed before jumping off the dome too and running after Aeris towards the carriage. Up ahead, Cloud could see a large bend in the path.

As he walked around the bend, he sees a large entrance a lit up with tiny yellow lights. Behind that, was a large area full of all kinds of interesting-looking stores. He immediately recognizes this place as Wall Market.

Aeris was at the front entrance of the place, patiently waiting for Cloud to catch up to her.

"This place is scary in a lot of ways, especially for a girl. We've got to find Tifa fast," she said.

Cloud nodded in agreement. Wall Market, was one of the "sleazier parts of the slums." He ran up the front entrance and into the market. To his left, was an inn and to his right was a large abandoned wooden shack. Cloud ran to the right side of the shack and around the bend of the path.

There on the other side, was Chorale. She was holding a knapsack with some kind of technology. Her eyes went wide upon seeing Cloud and Aeris.

"You guys! What are you doing here?" She asked.

Cloud was shocked, "What am _I_ doing here? What are _you_ doing here? And where on the planet is Tifa?"

"Hush!" Chorale commanded.

"We don't want anyone to hear us. Now listen, a lot of things had happened when you were gone. But I'm just gonna explain what's happening right now. Tifa's here to get into Don Corneo's place. We believe that he's got some useful information on ShinRa for us. I'm here to get in with her and use this chip to allow Jessie to hack into the Don's security system. This way, it'll allow them to know what's going on back at Seventh Heaven."

Cloud groaned, "And you guys let Tifa be the bait for that sleazy man!?"

Chorale shook her head, "No...more like she volunteered. Anyways, I got to go to Tifa. She's in the Honeybee Inn right now, I'm kind of playing as her manager. But, if you want to see Tifa for yourself, go ahead. Just don't break in or anything. And P.S., the Don isn't into men."

With that, Chorale disappeared into the streets of Wall Market behind Cloud, leaving the two of them alone again. Aeris grabbed Cloud's arm and tugged him towards the inn.

"Come on Cloud, lets see if we could see Tifa," she suggested.

They pushed through the men and onto the steps of the inn. A redheaded man wearing a flamboyant suit welcomed Cloud.

"Welcome! Even unpopular dweebs like you may meet their destiny here! You looking for a girlfriend too?" The man asked cheerfully.

Cloud frowned at being the 'unpopular dweeb' comment, but ignored it and went on.

"You know a girl named Tifa?" He asked.

"Hey, you're pretty fast. Tifa's our newest girl. But unfortunately, she's having an interview right now. Here at the Honeybee Inn, it's customary for all the girls to be taken to Don Corneo's mansion. Don Corneo's a famous dilettante. Now he wants to settle down and is in the market for a bride," the man explained.

Cloud sighed and turned around and walked back down the steps. He and Aeris left the area and back to the main marketplace. Cloud ran towards the left side of the area and up the long path, passing by many shops.

Eventually he reaches another area with a large bar on the left side and a gym to the other side. Up in front was a large entrance with two pillars and four pink banners hanging down from the top.

Cloud walked straight through the banners and into the courtyard of the mansion. The whole structure was designed in a Wutaiian style.

Aeris tapped Cloud on the shoulder.

"Umm, Cloud. What are you doing? Didn't Chorale tell us that the Don isn't into men?" She reminded him.

Cloud shrugged it off and continued walking forward.

"Yeah, well. It doesn't mean that I'm not going to at least try!" He pushed on.

Cloud stopped in front of a guard dressed in blue at the front doors to the mansion. The guard looked at the glaring blonde man.

"Ahem—this is the mansion of Don Corneo, the most powerful man in Wall Market. Look, the Don's not into—" The guard was cut off by Cloud.

He immediately turned around and pulled Aeris by the arm, "Come on Aeris, we're leaving."

Aeris pulled herself free from Cloud's grip and ran back up to the guard.

Cloud cried after her, "Aeris, what do you think you're doing!"

She ignored his protests and stopped in front of the guard.

"Hey there. Sorry for my friend, he has some anger issues. Anyways, I was wondering if the Don would be interested in a girl like me?" She asked.

Cloud's jaw dropped and he felt as if the whole world just suddenly tilted to one side.

The guard smirked cunningly, inspecting Aeris up and down.

"Hmmm. You're definitely a cutie. If he doesn't go for you, I would. So, yeah. You wanna see the Don?" He asked.

Cloud had had enough by now. He grabbed Aeris put the arm again pulled her behind him.

"Sorry buddy, but she's not available," he snapped before turning around to face her.

"What do you think you're doing?" He sternly scolded to her through his teeth.

"The only thing to do! I'll go in and check if Tifa's okay! I mean you can't come in with me!" Aeris reasoned.

Then suddenly, a wide smirk began to grow on her face. She inspected Cloud up and down.

 _Hmmm, very feminine. No would know the difference._ She thought.

Cloud began to tremble upon seeing Aeris in this state.

"Cloud, if you really care about Tifa. Then you would do what I'm about to suggest," she whispered in his ear.

And that was all that was needed.

"I can't believe I'm doing this..." Cloud mumbled.

* * *

 _A few moments later..._

Aeris emerges from the dressing room in the clothing shop. She twirled around in her new sparkling red dress that reached down to her ankles. Her hair, which was tied in a braid before, is now tied in a half-up hairdo, her brunette waves fell past her shoulders.

She twirled around for Cloud to see.

"Well? How do I look, Cloudia?" She asked teasingly.

Cloud, or rather, 'Cloudia,' is standing in front of Aeris, dressed in a shimmery silk violet dress that reached to his ankles. He wore a wig tied in two braided pigtails, and a tiara to go with it. He was wearing makeup, sprayed with lady's perfume, and to finish it all off, wearing women's lingerie.

A blush began to form on the blonde man's face as he struggled to get used to the feeling of the dress on his masculine body. He pulled it up at the back a little, but Aeris demanded his attention.

"Hey, Cloud? Come on, the faster we get there, the faster we'd get this over with," Aeris sympathized.

"Sigh. Lead the way," Cloud mumbled.

The two 'ladies' walked out of the dress shop and up the street of Wall Market. Don Corneo's mansion was up ahead, greeting them with its uncomforting aura.

Cloud held back a hurl as Aeris led them up to the front guard they met previously. The guard whistled upon seeing them.

"Damn, what a hottie. You got more friends like her, sweet stuff?" The guard asked Aeris while pointing at Cloud.

"Nope, but she's really one of a kind," Aeris replied.

"I'll say. Well, you girls may pass. Two ladies coming through!" The guard yelled to the front door.

The double doors opened, allowing Cloud and Aeris to enter the mansion. Inside, the building was extravagant with themes of gold and red. There were pillars supporting the upper floor and the front entrance had a reception table and clerk.

The clerk, a young man dressed in a red suit, walked up to them.

"Hey, ladies. I'll go and let the Don know that you're here. Wait here. Don't go wandering around," he commanded.

The man immediately turned around and left to go upstairs. As soon as he disappeared behind the double doors on the second floor, Aeris turned to Cloud.

"Alright, now's our chance to find Tifa."

* * *

 _At Seventh Heaven..._

"Hey, Jessie. Is it working yet?" Barret asked.

"Hang on, just a moment. Chorale only recently planted the chip in the system, it's going to take a few seconds before I can get in," Jessie explained as her hands quickly flew across the computer's keyboard, typing in a bunch of codes that Barret will never understand.

The monitor on the screen began to flicker, then it began to glow a light grey colour. Jessie worked even harder after that. Zack leaned over the woman and towards the screen. He looked at it up and down, trying to figure it out.

"Hey, Jessie. Why don't you try hacking into the other surveillance camera? It might do the trick. After that, it'll be easier to get into the whole system. Probably," he suggested.

Jessie glanced at him, then at the computer.

She nodded, "I'll give it a try."

Jessie's fingers were like a blur across the keys, it's like as if she's a perfectly programmed typing robot. A few more clicks of the mouse and the delightful sound of a beep came on. Jessie threw her hands in the air and turned around in her chair.

"Zack, you're a genius. We're in!" She cried.

Barret, Biggs, and Wedge squeezed around the monitor, trying to see what's going on. Jessie clicked on the surveillance camera that's showing the footage of Tifa and Chorale in the basement of the Don's mansion. It zoomed in to get a clear view of the entire scene.

Currently, only those two girls were in the basement, standing around quietly until someone comes for them. Zack stretches his arms in a relaxing manner. Barret looked at him sternly.

"Hey, SOLDIER! There's no time for getting comfy!" He scolded.

Zack shrugged his shoulders, "Relax. Tifa's a strong girl. She'll be able to handle anything the Don would give her—"

"Hey! Who's that on the screen?" Wedge suddenly pointed out.

Another girl appeared on the monitor of the footage. She had long brunette hair and was wearing a long red dress. She stopped in front of Tifa, who looked surprised to see her. Chorale, however, did not look surprised, but instead, worried.

Time just suddenly stopped around Zack. As soon as he saw the girl in the footage turn around to reveal her face, his whole body just froze. It was Aeris. That's right.

 _His_ Aeris. The girl who he risked his life and journeyed across the planet to see again. The girl who is currently in the basement of the home of a digusting man.

Zack clenched his teeth and fists.

"Get that girl out of there!" He ordered.

Biggs turned around, "What?"

"That girl! Aeris! Get her outta there! I won't stand to see her in that place!" Zack yelled.

That got all of Avalanche up and worried about what's happening to Zack right now.

Jessie tried to calm him down, "Whoa, whoa, Zack. I think you need to take a breather. We can't interfere with this right now!"

Zack glared at her, "Make me."

With that, he turned around and made a break for the exit of Seventh Heaven. Barret beat him to the door and grabbed him from behind, restraining him from running anywhere.

"Cool it, SOLDIER! We are absolutely _not_ going there and ruin everything! Do you want to get us all killed!?" He yelled.

"Like hell I care! I came halfway around the world to see her again! I ain't about to let her be tarnished by that scumbag Don!" Zack yelled back.

The two men continued to struggle about. Both of them were just as eager as the other to win this battle. Biggs and Wedge immediately jumped in to break up the fight.

Amongst all the commotion, Jessie turned around to the computer monitor again, and sees another girl, dressed in purple and whose hair was as yellow as a chocobo, walk in as well.

"Hey guys! Come over here! There's another person!" Jessie cried.

Biggs and Wedge rushed over to see who the new girl is. Zack and Barret also walked over, albeit with their arms still clenched at each other's hair. The girl who just entered suddenly turned around, allowing for the whole of Avalanche to see her face.

There was no doubt about it. Even through all that makeup and the garments, they can't deny the identity of that person.

It was like a storm, with the first raindrop being Jessie trying to hard to stifle a giggle, which then erupted in a huge downpour.

Seventh Heaven shook with laughter. Jessie fell out of her chair, Wedge was rolling on the ground, clenching his stomach. Biggs ran over to the counter, trying to contain himself by leaning against the wood.

Zack and Barret completely forgot about what they were fighting about and laughed along side each other, as if they were old friends.

* * *

 _At Don Corneo's basement..._

"Cloud!? Why are you dressed like that? And what are you doing here? Forget that, what happened to you after the fall? Are you hurt?" Tifa cried.

"Well, I didn't say that I tried to stop him. But I didn't expect him to go this far either. I'm impressed Cloud. I'm impressed," Chorale remarked.

Cloud sighed as he blew a strand of the wig's hair out of his eyes.

"Hey, give me a chance to answer. I'm dressed like this...because there was no other way to get in here. I'm alright. Aeris helped out," Cloud gestured to the other girl in the room.

Tifa looked to Aeris and smiled gratefully, "Oh, Aeris did..."

"Tifa explain. What are you doing in a place like this!?" Cloud demanded.

"Yeah, umm..." Tifa looked a little nervous.

She glanced over at Aeris, as if she could talk to her through her thoughts. Luckily, Aeris seemed to have that ability.

"Ahem. I'll just plug my ears. Go on with your private conversation guys," Aeris said as she walked over to the other side of the room and did as she said she would.

Tifa smiled at Aeris again and turned over to Cloud and Chorale. She looked directly at Cloud, a bit nervous about talking about what happened while he was gone.

"...I'm glad you're ok," Tifa started.

"Thanks, what happened?" Cloud asked.

"When we got back from the Sector 5 reactor, there was this strange man. Barret suspected him of being in league with ShinRa and so, he caught him and got some information out of him," Tifa explained.

"That's when the Don's name popped up," Cloud finished, he began to understand what's going on.

"Right. Barret told me to leave this lech alone...but it bothers me that we're missing a good chance to get some information," Tifa said.

"I see. So you want to get the whole story from Corneo's mouth," Cloud replied.

"So I made it here. But I'm in a bind. Corneo is in market for a bride. Everyday, he chooses one of three girls...and then...and well...whatever. Anyways, I have to be the girl...or I'm screwed. Chorale needs to stay here to stay in touch with Seventh Heaven, so she can't come," Tifa explained.

Aeris suddenly walked up to the three of them and joined in on the conversation.

"Sorry, but I overhead the last bit. Tifa, you said that the Don chooses one of three girls, right? Well if you know the other two, then you'll be able to get information of out him anyways!" Aeris explained.

Tifa nodded, "Well I guess, but..."

"We have two girls available right here, right?" Aeris continued.

"No, Aeris! I can't have you involved any more in our work than you already are!" Cloud cried in concern.

Aeris gapped at him.

"Oh? So it's alright for Tifa to be in danger?" She retorted.

"No, I don't want Tifa in..." Cloud became silent.

Tifa faced Aeris.

"Is it alright?" She asked.

Aeris nodded, "I grew up in the slums. I'm used to danger."

"Thanks, Miss Aeris."

"Please, call me Aeris."

Suddenly, the man in the red suit from the front entrance appeared at the stairs leading to the first floor. He called out at the four ladies.

"Hey! It's time ladies, the Don is waiting. I thought I told you not to wander around...I tell ya...women these days...hurry up!" He yelled.

Chorale gestured for the three 'ladies' to go, and Aeris and Tifa walked over to the stairs. Cloud, however, stayed behind a little. Lightly trembling and sweating at the same time.

"I probably don't need to ask, but...the other girl is me...right?" He gulped.

"You're right, there was no need..." Tifa started.

"To ask..." Aeris finished.

Tifa began to laugh and shake her head, "You know, if you look closely, you're not so bad...I wonder how Barret would react if he saw you right now..."

"They're going to be suspicious if we don't hurry," Aeris said.

* * *

The three people walked up the stairs and entered the double doors of the second floor. Inside was a large carpeted room, with the Don sitting at his office desk in the middle of the room.

He was a rather plump man, with a blonde Mohawk and wearing an expensive-looking red jacket. There were two guards were at either side of him.

One of the guards ordered them to line up in front of the Don's desk. So they did as they were told immediately. Don Corneo jumps up to his feet, licking his lips.

"Hmm. Good, splendid! Now lets see..." Corneo said.

"Which girl should I choose? Hmm...,this one?" He walked over to Cloud, who immediately turned his head to avoid contact with him.

The Don smirked as Cloud turned his head. Tifa and Aeris silently cringed at Cloud's actions. Corneo then walked over to Tifa and examined her up and down, making sure he didn't miss one spot.

"Or this one?" He said to himself.

After a second of thinking over his decision, Don Corneo exclaimed, "Woohoo! I've made up my mind! My choice for tonight is..."

Cloud, Tifa, and Aeris all held their breaths as they awaited the name of the girl the Don would 'comfort' tonight. Don Corneo stepped forward with his arms wide open.

"This healthy-looking girl!" He gestured to Cloud.

The ex-SOLDIER's soul almost left his body upon seeing the Don lunging in front of him.

His voice stuttered as he said, "Wa—wait a sec! I mean, please, wait a moment!"

But that only sparked the Don's interest even more, "Woohoo! I love chicks who play hard to get! Yeowza!"

Don Corneo turns to the two guards standing beside his desk. He gestured to them.

"You can have the other ones," he ordered.

"Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!"

They saluted politely, then looked hungrily at the two remaining girls, who both gave Cloud encouraging looks.

Don Corneo turned his attention back to Cloud, through half lidded eyes and a raised brow, he offered his hand to him.

"Well then, shall we go? My pretty?"

* * *

The Don's bedroom was large with a huge poster bed in the centre. The bed had soft gold and red bedding.

Don Corneo kneeled on top of the comforter, slowly unbuttoning his shirt. Cloud sat on the side of the bed, switching from looking at his feet to the exit.

Don Corneo slowly crept up behind him.

"Ahh...we're finally alone. Alright, pussycat! Come to daddy!" He cried.

Cloud immediately jumped up from his sitting position and backed a few centimetres away from the bed. The Don frowned, but didn't lose his composure.

"Woohoo! Don't be shy. We're all alone now...you're so cute. I never get tired of looking at you. Do you...like me as well?" The Don asked flamboyantly as he reached over to his nightstand for a glass of beer.

Cloud's face turned fifty shades of red as he thought of how to answer that question.

"Ummm, of course!" He said in the best girl voice he could manage.

Don Corneo leaned to his side and rested his head on his arm. He looked at Cloud with seductive eyes.

"Sigh, you sure know how to make a guy feel good. Then, wh—what do _you_ want to do?" He asked.

"Whatever _you_ want daddy...?" Cloud said in a half question statement.

He really doesn't know how to get out of this situation. Best he could do is just not to get on the Don's bad side. The Don seemed to be really aroused by this.

He lunged forward towards Cloud and tried to grab at him, but Cloud managed to evade that attempt.

"I can't stand this anymore! Come on my pretty! Lets see what's underneath that dress!" Corneo demanded.

Cloud smirked as he slowly began to unzip the dress from behind...

"Ju—ust a minute!" Tifa yelled at the top her lungs.

The front doors of the bedroom were suddenly kicked open, revealing Tifa, Aeris, and Chorale, who all immediately rushed in. Panic was written all over their faces.

Tifa's most of all. She went up to Cloud and backhandedly, slapped him across the face.

"Cloud! Were you really gonna..." She trailed off as she realized that she didn't exactly want to finish that sentence.

"Uh...it's not what it looks like! Swear!" Cloud stammered.

Aeris didn't look so convinced, "Oh really? Because you looked like you were ready to give the Don a strip tease!"

"Cloud, it's ok if you're homosexual. We'll still support you," Chorale replied.

Cloud had had enough of this ridiculousness. He jumped over to one side of the bed and unzipped the dress, then proceeded to shrug it off his body and throw it away to one corner of the bedroom.

Underneath the dress however, was in fact, nothing else than his SOLDIER uniform.

Tifa and the girls immediately felt a pang of stupidity hit their heads. Cloud walked over to the Don and grabbed him by the jacket collar, glaring.

"Alright Don, start talking or else you'll wish you never picked the 'healthy-looking girl' from a few moments ago," he threatened.

Tifa cracked her knuckles and walked over to join Cloud in the interrogation.

"We're asking the questions now. What did your assistants find out? Talk! If you don't tell us...I'll chop them off," Tifa said darkly as she gestured to his legs.

Don Corneo panicked, "No! No! I'll talk! I'll tell you everything!"

Tifa nodded for him to talk. The Don took a few deep breaths before talking.

"I made them find out where the man with the gun arm was. But that's what I was ordered to do," he confessed.

"By who?" Chorale asked, walking up to the Don, crossing her arms.

Don Corneo's eyes grew wide as he gazed at the girl before him.

"Hey...I've seen you before...you're...aren't you...the little girl of the head of Public Safety Maintenance?"

That question took Chorale aback. She immediately became neutral and craved for more out the man. Cloud and Tifa shielded her from the Don. Tifa grabbed Chorale by the arm.

"Don't listen to him, Chorale! He's afraid, he's tyring to distract us!" Tifa cried.

"Now wait! Hang on!" Chorale tried to complain, but got interrupted by Cloud asking the Don again.

Cloud twisted the Don's arms behind him and forced his head to face him.

"Alright now, talk if you don't..." He glanced over at Aeris.

"I'll rip them off," Aeris finished as she grabbed the edge of the comforter and began playing at the stitches.

Corneo cried as tears fell down his cheeks, "Wwwaaahhh! It was Heidegger of ShinRa! Heidegger, the head of Public Safety Maintenance!"

 _Heidegger...Heidegger...head of Public Safety Maintenance...the little girl of the head of Public Safety Maintenance...Heidegger's little girl...what does this mean?_ Chorale thought.

She tried hard to not let this new information bother her, but it did. She wants to do something, but she doesn't know what.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the shouts of Tifa.

"Did you say ShinRa? What are they up to? Talk! If you don't tell us...I'll smash them," Tifa went over to the expensive looking vases over on the beside table.

Don Corneo lost all his composure by now.

"You're serious...oh boy, oh boy, oh boy...I'm not fooling around here either, 'kay? ShinRa's trying to crush a small rebel group called Avalanche, and infiltrate their hideout. And they're going to crush them...literally, by breaking the support holding up the plate above them," Corneo explained.

"Break the support!?" Tifa repeated.

Her eyes went wide with shock at far ShinRa would go to just get rid of them.

Looking around her, she could see that Cloud and Aeris also felt the same way. Chorale, who was lost in her thought before, nearly forgot what she was thinking about upon hearing what ShinRa's planning to do.

Don Corneo nodded, "You know what's going to happen? The plate'll go _ping_ , and everything's gonna be _bam_! I heard that their hideout's in the Sector 7 slums. I'm just glad it's not here in Sector 6."

Tifa had heard enough.

"They're going to wipe out the Sector 7 slums!? Cloud, will you with me to Sector 7?"

Cloud nodded, determination set in his eyes.

"Of course, Tifa." He said.

Aeris rushed towards them, "I'm coming too! It's about time, I did something against that company!"

Tifa turned to Chorale, who looked nervous and unsure of what to do. She took her hands in hers.

"Chorale? It's gonna be alright. We're gonna put a stop to their plans, but we're gonna need you're help as well. Don't worry, we'll pull through together!" Tifa encouraged.

Chorale pursed her lips and sighed.

"Tifa, look. I—" She began.

"Just a second!" Don Corneo shouted as he leaned over the bed to face Cloud and co.

Cloud glared at him with his mako infused eyes.

"Shut up!" He snapped.

"No wait, it'll only take a second. How do you think scum like me feel when they babble on about the truth?" The Don asked sarcastically while reaching up for something.

Cloud sees his action and slowly reaches back for his sword.

"I don't know. They feel that they're sure they'll win, maybe?" He answered.

Don Corneo laughed.

"Right! Here's your prize!" He cried as he pulled down a rope hanging down from the canopy of his poster bed.

Suddenly, the floor beneath Cloud and the girls disappeared and in its place, was a long dark hole that leads down to somewhere deep. Cloud reached up for the above, but couldn't grab onto anything. They kept on falling through the darkness until they came into contact with something wet and smelly.

* * *

 **Well another clue to Chorale's past has been revealed. Tension is starting to rise in the plot. What will happen, I wonder? Well, that's to happen in the next chapter!**


	6. Fall of the Pillar: Part 1

**Sorry the delay in this chapter. I've been trying to finish as many chapters as I can ahead of time. I have a lot of things coming up soon, so I won't have a lot of time to put in quality effort. So I apologize for any errors you may see.**

 **Thank you and enjoy reading!**

* * *

 **Disc 1 (Sector 7): Fall of the Pillar Pt. 1**

On the upper plate of Midgar, the ShinRa building shone gloriously right in the centre of the entire city. Boasting its enormous view of Midgar was the 70th floor of the building, the President's office. The office was a floor to itself, with the main desk at the end of it, directly in front of the floor to ceiling glass window.

There were two sets of stairs leading to the office from the floor below. From the right stairwell, appeared a large man in a green suit. He was Heidegger, head of the Public Safety Maintenance department, therefore, he is in charge of all the security, police force, and crime issues in all of Midgar.

He walked up to the President of ShinRa, who sat on his large leather chair, turned away from the desk. Reeve, head of Urban Development, stood nearby, a bit concerned about what's going on.

President ShinRa felt the presence of another man in his office and swiveled his chair around to face him. He smiled down at Heidegger.

"How are the preparations going?" He asked.

"Ha ,ha, ha...smoothly. Very smoothly. I've assigned the Turks to this. They won't fail so long as they receive their pay," Heidegger answered.

Reeve cringed at the mention of the plan going very smoothly. He turned to the President.

"President! Are we really going to do this? All this...to just simply destroy a group with a few members..." He expressed.

"What's the problem Reeve? You want out?" The President asked as he lit a cigar.

"No...but as head of the Urban Development department, I have been involved in the building and running of Midgar. So that's why..." Reeve stopped there, trying to give the President the idea of what he's saying.

Heidegger shook his head and groaned.

"Reeve, you should flush those personal problems in the morning! Our job is to deal with this company, and this company only. So don't get too attached to anything!" He yelled.

"The Mayor's against this anyway..." Reeve reasoned.

"Mayor? He just sits there all day, stuffing food at his face! You call that a 'mayor!?'" Heidegger questioned.

Reeve glared at Heidegger.

"What's with you nowadays? You're always so...'jerky.' Look, I know how it's been for you, but you can't let it affect you like this!" He cried.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Heidegger said.

Reeve looked at Heidegger with some sympathy, "It may be time for you to move on. Listen, I understand how difficult it is, losing both Allison and Chor—"

"You don't want to finish that sentence," Heidegger said under his breath.

His eyes flared with threat as he slowly walked away from the President's desk and towards the stairs. Heidegger turned around as he got the front of the steps.

"If I hear you talking about them again, I'll have the Turks deal with you," he threatened before disappearing down the stairs.

Reeve ran a few steps after him, but then shook his head and stopped. He sighed, feeling depressed and upset. The President looked at Reeve with some worry, he stood up from his chair and walked up beside him.

"You're tired, I can see that. Why don't you take a couple days off and go somewhere? Get away from the stress," President ShinRa suggested.

Reeve looked at the President, giving him a look that said, "I'm not going to be ok with this. Not ever."

Reeve then also left the office. President ShinRa took a few puffs of his cigar in glee. He smirked to himself.

"We'll destroy Sector 7 and report that Avalanche was behind that. Then we'll send in the company's rescue care operation...heh, heh...this is too perfect."

* * *

Cloud landed face first in the horrendous green water of the sewers. Tifa and Aeris followed close behind, also getting drenched in the smelly liquid. Chorale came right after Tifa, gagging at the smell and feel of the place.

Cloud rushed over to Tifa to help her up, who immediately went over to help Chorale up. Cloud then ran up to Aeris to get her to her feet. With all of them standing up, Cloud glanced around the area, trying to find a way out.

When he couldn't find an exit, he sighed and turned back to the girls. All of them were pretty upset about the current situation.

"Everyone alright?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah," Aeris answered.

"Man, this is terrible!" Tifa cried. She shook her fists in frustration.

Aeris soothed her, "Well, at least the worst part is over..."

A low growling sound suddenly filled the entire sewer. It came from above their heads, where they fell from. The sound got closer and closer. Cloud immediately made everyone back up from the hole.

Aeris groaned, "Maybe not..."

A few seconds later, a large blue dog-like creature appeared from the hole above. It immediately rushed forward and made an attack on them. Cloud quickly blocked it's incoming hand with his sword, allowing Tifa to get out of the way and run up to the other side of the creature.

She laid in a series of punches from the back the monster, and ends her attack by running to the front of it and doing a powerful somersault kick to its face. Cloud removed his sword from the creature's hand as soon as Tifa finished her attack and leapt forward, lethally slicing the front of its body.

However, as soon as Cloud sliced the creature, it stepped back and raised its tail. A great trembling could be felt in the ground. Suddenly, the waters of the sewers began to rise and a great wave washed forward, sweeping the four fighters off their feet and around the area.

They hit the ground, the sides, and each other before the wave finally died down. Cloud panted as he leaned against his sword for support. Tifa tried to stand up, but stumbled and fell on the water. Chorale didn't try to move at all and just leaned against the concrete side of the sewers.

Aeris got up to her knees, panting, and put her hands together in a prayer. She concentrated hard and felt a warm vibrance coming from her chest. A great white light shone through the area, touching Cloud, Tifa, and Chorale, and upon making contact with them, instantly heals their bodies.

Chorale immediately used this chance to get up and run towards the beast. She circles around it in high speed before drawing out both of her blades and began to attack and slash at it from all angles. The creature began to severely lose its health.

As soon Chorale drew back from her attack, the beast finally fell to its demise. She regroups with Cloud and the others. They watch as the creature began to dissipate into several strands of green light. It eventually became nothing but a pile of green light strands, then disappeared into the ground. In its place was a small blue collar.

Cloud walked forward to pick it up. He examined it closely. There on the name tag of the collar read the name, 'Aps.' He kept reading.

"'Property of Don Corneo...' Tch." Cloud scoffed as he threw away the collar.

He turned around and walked up to Tifa, who was holding her head in panic.

"It's too late...Marlene...Barret...the people of the slums..." She stuttered with tears in her eyes.

Aeris patted her on the back for comfort.

"Don't give up, never give up hope. It's not easy to destroy the pillar right?" She reminded her.

Tifa wiped her eyes and nodded.

"You're right. We still have time!" She cried in determination.

Tifa ran ahead with Aeris and Cloud following close behind her. Chorale yelled after them.

"Guys, wait!" She shouted.

Cloud immediately turned around and the others stopped running.

He asked her, "What's wrong?"

"...It's been bothering me for awhile. My memories are being sparked every now and then by the mention of ShinRa. Look, all I'm saying is...I need to know who I am! No, I _want_ to know who I am! I'm sorry guys..." She admitted.

Chorale pushed past Cloud, Tifa, and Aeris, and ran around the corner of the sewers. Tifa was extremely shocked by all this.

"Wait, what!? Chorale!" She cried after her.

Cloud shook his head and rushed down the path Chorale went. Tifa and Aeris ran behind him. In front of Cloud, Chorale leapt over the side railing of the sewers and onto the stone path. She opened the metal door and disappeared inside.

Cloud catches the door before it fully closes and holds it open for Tifa and Aeris to enter. Inside the room, Chorale was nowhere to be seen, but there was a ladder at the other side of the wall. It seemed to lead up to the ground above.

The three pursuers rushed up the ladder and opened the grate that led to the surface. Cloud emerged from the lid and turned around to help Tifa and Aeris out of there as well. They looked around the area, which was full of old abandoned trains.

This made it difficult to catch any glimpse of the brunette girl in the red kimono. Cloud sighed as he turned to Aeris.

"Sorry, Aeris. I got you mixed up in all this..." He apologized.

"Don't tell me to go home," she said.

"Sigh. If we can get past these trains that are lit up, we should be able to get out of here," Tifa explained.

Suddenly, a flash of red appeared next to one of the abandoned trains. Chorale leaned against the broken door of the locomotive and panted. Tifa caught sight of her and pointed her out to Cloud and Aeris.

"Look! There she is! Chorale!" Tifa in the direction of the train in front of them.

Chorale heard Tifa's cry and immediately started running again, pushing her way through the maze of the train graveyard. Cloud gestured for the rest of the girls to follow him. They climbed up the ladder in front of them to get to the top of the old train.

From there, they could see Chorale dashing through the trains, getting closer to the exit of maze. Cloud ran across the rooftop of the train and jumped down to get into the interior of another broken train across from him. He ran to the front cart of the train he's inside and got out of the exit from there.

Aeris pointed to the opening between the trains to their right. They made a break for the opening, there were two large trains before them. Cloud looked around for an exit from there. Eventually, he sees a ladder leading up to the train top of the train in the back. He climbed to the top.

Running across the top of the train, he could see Chorale running away from the place and towards Sector 7. He wondered why she just suddenly broke and run like that.

 _Hopefully, she's not trying to turn her back on us,_ he thought as he jumped from the nose of the train he's running on and onto the top of the train in front of him.

They ran across the top of the train and jumped down from the front. Landing cleanly on the ground, they continued onto Sector 7 which lied in front of them.

* * *

Zack ran from Seventh Heaven all the way to the train station of Sector 7 as soon as ShinRa helicopters began swarming around the support pillar. Barret and the rest of Avalanche were already fighting whatever forces were at the top of the pillar.

Before leaving, Barret gave Zack an order to see if Cloud and the rest of them are back yet.

"'They'll most likely be entering through the train station from the train graveyard to avoid any contact with ShinRa.' At least that's what he told me," Zack reminded himself as he ran down the path.

Up ahead was the train station, the train was still there, though it was about time for it leave. Suddenly, a figure came running up from the direction of the train graveyard.

He recognized it as Chorale.

Zack waved at her, trying to get her attention, but she ignored him and turned to the direction of the train. A voice pierces through the air.

The voice belonged to Cloud.

"Someone! Get that girl!" He cried.

Zack saw a glimpse of Cloud, also running from the train graveyard. He immediately reacted to his command and lunged towards Chorale, grabbing her by the waist and shoulders.

But he didn't get a good grip on her and so, she managed to free herself from him, by giving him a good hind kick right between his thighs.

The dark haired ex-SOLDIER cringed as he fell to his knees, allowing Chorale to escape. The train began to steam and turn, but Chorale continued to run after it.

Just before it left the station completely, she took a leap of faith and grabbed onto the railings of the caboose, letting herself into the cart.

She turned around and apologetically looked at Zack and Cloud, who gazed at the train, moving away from the station and towards the central pillar that would lead it to the upper plate.

Cloud shook his head and silently cursed to himself. Tifa ran up ahead, seeing if anything serious is happening right this instance.

Aeris, unknowingly went up to man lying on his side, clutching his thighs. She kneeled down before him.

"Hey, are you alright?" She gently asked.

Zack turned onto his back to face his speaker and his eyes became as wide as saucers. At the same time, Aeris let out a shocked gasp. She put her hands to her mouth in disbelief and stood up from the ground.

"Zack..."

"Aeris..."

Zack gently stood up from the ground, still in a bit of pain. Tifa and Cloud turned around to see what's going on. Cloud looked from Zack to Aeris, focusing on their expressions. Aeris cautiously reached out to touch Zack's arm, almost afraid that he might turn into dust upon contact.

"Are you...are you real? Is this real?" Aeris asked in a shaky voice.

Zack reached and grabbed her hand, squeezing it.

"I'm real. I'm right here."

Aeris broke down and immediately jumped up and wrapped her arms around him as tight as she could. He gently returned the hug as she wept on his shoulder.

Tifa sighed at this touching scene. Cloud also smiled and walked up next to Tifa. They waited until Aeris separated herself from Zack.

Cloud walked up to the two of them.

"So, you two know each other?"

Aeris nodded at him, "Cloud, this is Zack. I believe I mentioned him back at the playground."

"Cloud..." Zack said.

Cloud offered his hand for Zack to shake.

"Wait, I remember you from back at the mako reactor 5! I guess it never hurts for proper introductions. Pleased to meet you, I'm Cloud Strife. Ex-SOLDIER, first class," he politely introduced himself.

Zack felt awkward as he shook his head, "Umm, Zack Fair. Also ex-SOLDIER, first class. Umm, look here, Cloud..."

He was interrupted by the sound of gunfire and explosions that came from the direction of Sector 7. Tifa turned around in panic and began running towards the sector, intent on stopping ShinRa from bringing the plate down.

Cloud also turned around to follow Tifa, but he was stopped by Zack. Tifa stopped running as soon as she realized that no one was following her. She impatiently yelled at the rest of them.

"What are you guys doing? Hurry it up!" She cried.

Zack looked from Cloud to Tifa, and squeezed his eyes shut. He let go of Cloud's arm and ran after Tifa. Cloud and Aeris ran beside him.

"You know what? This can can be left for later. For now, our priority is stopping the destruction of the pillar!" Zack cried.

* * *

 **I've always wondered how it would be like if Zack and Aeris were reunited. Honestly, I was never a shipper of Cloud and Aeris. It was always Tifa whom I always ended up with at the Gold Saucer. (Sorry Clerith shippers.)** **Anyways, sorry that I had to cut this chapter a bit short (just me being lazy), the second half of this would be coming out soon (hopefully), and I promise that chapter would be a longer than this one.** **-B. Leaves**


	7. Author's Note

**Dear Readers,**

 **I'm so sorry about the recent mix up in the chapters of this fic. I was just trying to replace them with my revised chapters and I accidentally replaced the chapters of this fic with the chapters of another fic I was writing.**

 **Again, I'm so sorry about this. (I'm so embarassed...) I was reading over the chapters when I realized that these aren't the chapters of this story.**

 **It should be fixed by now, if you guys see anything wrong in the future chapters. Please inform me!**

 **Sorry!**

 **B. Leaves**


	8. Fall of the Pillar: Part 2

**Disclaimer: this is the universe of Square Enix, I'm just a lowly astronaut wandering across the space.**

 **Welcome to part 2 of the fall of the pillar. Honestly though, the fall of the Sector 7 pillar was one of the most epic and emotional moments in all of FF7. (I kept on fighting Reno until my mom called me down for dinner. Thought that I could stop the pillar from falling if I could actually defeat him).**

 **I hope you guys are enjoying this story! Please like, review, and share!**

* * *

 **Disc 1 (Sector 7): Fall of the Pillar Pt. 2**

In Sector 7, there was a crowd of people gathered around the metal fence, separating them from the long staircase adjacent to the support pillar. There were people running around with their belongings and children, desperately trying to get out of the area. Some of them even refused to leave due to their attachment to their homes.

It was truly an awful sight. There were even more people calling out the names of their loved ones, trying to locate them amongst the sea of panicked people. Tifa silently blamed herself for the cause of all this. She ran up to the crowd that was surrounding the fence.

Looking up, she could see that the pillar was still intact. She let out a sigh of relief.

"We made it! The pillar's still standing!" She exclaimed.

Cloud pointed to above them. "Look. There's gunfire!" He shouted.

Sure enough, at the top of the staircase was an enraged Barret. He shot continuous rounds directly at the ShinRa issued helicopter hovering right next to the pillar. Alongside Barret was Wedge. The smaller man aided the larger man in shooting at their targeted enemy with a machine gun.

Suddenly, the helicopter flew down towards the two men, causing Wedge to move backwards in an attempt to dodge it.

Poor Wedge rolled back a bit too much and toppled over the side of the railing. He fell down the staircase and landed on the ground behind Cloud.

Tifa and Aeris immediately rushed to his aid. Aeris performed a quick healing spell over the fallen man.

"Wedge! You alright?" Cloud quickly asked.

Wedge struggled to get up as he gave Cloud a grateful smile, "Cloud...you remembered...my name. Barret's at the top. Go to him...and Cloud? Sorry if I wasn't any help before."

Cloud went over to Wedges side and grabbed his left hand with his right one, squeezing it. He gazed down at him.

"Don't you ever say that. You're a part of Avalanche. We all are. Every one of our actions are meant for the future. And everything that we do...will never prove fruitless," Cloud encouraged.

Wedge smiled weakly at Cloud. Then, he relaxes his body, puts his head back and closes his eyes in peace.

Aeris nodded, "He's alive. Just unconscious for now. Sorry, but that's all I can do."

Tifa shook her head, "That's all that he needs. Thank you Aeris. Oh, and Aeris? I have one last favour for you. I own a bar called 'Seventh Heaven' in this neighbourhood. There's two little girls named Marlene and Allie there..."

Aeris got the idea and nodded.

"Don't worry. I'll get them somewhere safe."

She was about to take off when Zack called after her, "Aeris! Be careful!"

"I will! Or at least I'll try!"

Tifa runs through the crowd of people and climbed onto a little wooden crate to get the people's attention.

"It's not safe around here! Everyone, get away from the pillar. Quickly! Get out Sector 7!" She warned.

The crowd around the metal fence all panicked and spread in all directions, getting together with families and friends to leave the sector. Cloud and Zack rushed over to the gate of the fence.

Opening it, the three of them ran up the long set of stairs to get to the top where Barret is.

Cloud leads the way running up the stairs. They came across an injured Biggs, slumped over the side of the staircase railing. Cloud helped him get down from the area and carefully laid him against the ground. Tifa and Zack kneeled around him.

Biggs coughed and laughed a bit.

"Cloud...so you don't care...what happens to the Planet?" He tested him.

Cloud ignored the question and focused on what's going on right now instead. He gazed at the man with concern.

"You're wounded...here let us help," Cloud offered.

Biggs's face softened upon seeing the gentleness Cloud is displaying. He waved his hand to turn down his offer.

"Thanks Cloud...don't worry about me...Barret's fighting up there. Go help him..." he weakly said.

Tifa shook her head and reached out to try and pick him up, but Biggs resisted.

"Go! There's not much time left! The pillar would be destroyed if you don't..." he commanded.

Zack gently encouraged for Cloud and Tifa to continue on. Cloud nodded at Biggs and turned his back and ran up the long set of stairs. After going up a few more flights from where Biggs was, they see another person lying on against the metal steps in front of them.

Jessie breathed heavily as she struggled to sit upright against the steps that her back is on. Cloud, Tifa, and Zack kneeled around her, checking to see if she's severely injured anywhere. Jessie smiled when she caught sight of them.

"Cloud...you guys...I'm glad that...I could talk to all of you...one last time..." she coughed.

Cloud shook his head. "Don't say 'last.' One day...we'll all be able to have good conversations again. We just have to keep fighting!" He cried.

Jessie sighed, "That's alright...because of our actions...many people died...this is probably our punishment..."

Jessie's voice grew weaker until eventually, she lost all consciousness. Tifa couldn't help but feel some truth in Jessie's words. It was because of Avalanche that many people had died, or are going to die.

This _is_ their punishment.

Tifa pushed Cloud forward impatiently, who reacted to this sudden gesture, but ignored it for the time being and just kept going up the steps. By now, they were nearing the top of the staircase. Barret's gunfire was increasingly getting louder.

Cloud could see the rage in the man's eyes, even from his distance. Barret had 'destroy' written all over his face.

As soon as the three fighters reached the top platform, Barret turned his head to acknowledge their presence, smiling in appreciation.

"Tifa! Cloud! Zack! You came! Be careful! They're attacking from the helicopter," Barret pointed out.

Sure enough, the ShinRa issue helicopter was sustained in the air, literally right above their heads. Tifa squinted her eyes at the blue and white vehicle. She turned to the men of the Avalanche.

"Listen up! They're going to be attacking with full force soon, so you guys better equip yourselves before they do!" She commanded.

Following Tifa's orders, the men immediately began loading up their best weapons and protection gear. Cloud handed out some materia to Zack, then to Barret, who refused it. Said that 'materia is just too damn confusing!'

Zack looked long and hard at the Buster sword Cloud is holding. Cloud catches Zack's gaze.

"Watcha' looking at?" He asked.

Zack just turned his head and took out the long curved sword that Mr. Ichus had lend to him. Barret reloads his gun and grunts in readiness. Tifa puts on a new pair of gloves with spikes dotting around the knuckles area. She put on her most confidence face as she waited for whatever force is ready to emerge from the helicopter.

From the helicopter, emerged the redheaded Turk from the church, Reno.

He jumped down from the side of the helicopter and landed expertly on the ground, right between Tifa and Barret. Before anyone could react, Reno dashed to the control panel in the middle of the platform.

He smirked victoriously at Avalanche.

"You're too late. Once I push this button..." he stopped midsentence to complete his action. The horrendous sound of the beep filled the air, which signals the activation of the fall of the pillar.

"That's all folks! Mission complete. Now, time for the paycheck..."

Tifa cried out in horror. She looked to Barret and Cloud, hoping for them to do something about it.

"We have to disarm it! Guys, please!" She cried.

Cloud made a run for the control panel, but Reno immediately struck at him with his electro-mag rod. Cloud quickly ducked underneath it and slid back to Barret. He glared at the redhead in the suit before him. Zack also glared at Reno, feeling ashamed that he was once on the same side as him.

Reno shook his head and tched. He held out his electro-mag rod against the palm of his hand.

"I'm afraid I can't have you do that. No one gets in the way of Reno and the Turks...no one."

* * *

 _At the upper plate..._

Chorale had dashed from the train station all the way to the centre of the city, where the ShinRa building lied. She paused before its enormous front entrance, thinking over how she's going to do this.

Walking in calmly, Chorale was in awe of the interior design of the lobby. Everything was clean, fresh, and modern, from the pristine floors to the nicely-dressed employees. She walked up reception table at the front of the room, right between the two sets of stairs leading to the second level of this floor.

The woman sitting at the table was busy on the phone when she noticed Chorale.

"Hang on a moment sir—hi there. May I help you?" She asked.

"Uh yeah, I need to speak with the head of the Public Safety maintenance department," Chorale answered.

"Oh, I'm afraid he's not available currently. Here, just fill out this form," the woman reached into her drawer and pulled out a pen and paper for Chorale.

"And when he gets back. He'll contact you after he contacts the other people who are on the waiting list," she explained.

Chorale quickly filled in the gaps on the paper and handed it back to the receptionist. The receptionist frowned as she read it over.

"I'm sorry, miss. We're going to need your last name and occupation."

Chorale became nervous. "I—I don't know. I really don't know. That's why I need to see this guy. Please, could you just make an exception?" She begged.

"I'm afraid not. This information is to keep our higher ups safe from anyone we might suspect as a danger—"

"What's going here, Sandra?" A man in a dark blue suit suddenly asked.

He seemed to be his in late twenties to early thirties. The man had a small goatee and an aura of friendliness around him. The receptionist, Sandra, gave him her attention.

"Reeve Tuesti! Sir. Nothing's wrong, this woman here just wants to see Heidegger, but she's unable to fill in the necessary form completely," she explained.

Reeve looked at Chorale then back at Sandra. He simply took the form from the desk, looked over it, and handed it back to Sandra, who gapped at him in surprise.

"But sir..." she complained.

"I've got this covered. Don't worry about it. If anything happens, I'll take full responsibility," Reeve assured.

He turned to Chorale and gestured her to follow him. Chorale walked alongside him into the elevator. Reeve pressed the button for floor 61, inserting his keycard into the slot for the elevator to move. Chorale breathed out in relief, she nervously glances at the man.

"Umm, sir? Thanks for back there. Oh and, are you taking me to see Heidegger?" She politely asked.

"Not really. Like Sandra said, that man is busy right now. Come on. Oh and, just 'Reeve,' is fine," he replied as the elevator came to a stop, revealing the 61st floor.

The entire area was like a large lounge room. It had several round shiny tables, some couches by the window that offered a full view of Midgar. There was a bar on one side of the room and a food counter at the back of the room. There were a few employees here and there relaxing.

Some were drinking by themselves, others were talking to friends, and a few were going over several documents. Reeve led Chorale to a quieter area, cut off from the rest of the lounge by a low wall. He offered her to sit at the table before sitting down himself.

"According to what I saw on the paper. Your name is Chorale right?" Reeve asked.

"Yes. I'm sure of it," she answered.

"You don't have your last name, and I'm assuming you don't have a job either. Can you tell me anything else important?"

Chorale shook her head, "It's not that I don't have my last name, I just don't know it. I lost my memories, no joke here. I'm assuming that you know? Considering that you seem pretty smart."

Reeve laughed, "Maybe I do, maybe I don't. That'll have to depend."

"On what?" Chorale asked, getting curious.

"I don't know. If you want to know what I know, I'll tell you. There was a girl who worked here once, her name was Chorale too. She looked exactly like you. Chorale, she was well-liked by everyone. A real social person. But one day, she just up and vanished. I personally don't know what happened to her, I'm sorry to say," Reeve explained.

"Yeah? What else? What was her job here? Who was she close to? Any family? Friends?" Chorale asked desperately.

"You...said that you lost your memories. Why did you come here?" Reeve pointed out.

Chorale sighed, "This place...it feels...familiar. But I'm torn, the people who helped me from the beginning, a group called Avalanche, told me that this company is bad. I didn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes. Nevertheless, I want to find out who I am."

"Avalanche!? So that means that you're friends are down there right now, fighting to keep the pillar up?" Reeve asked in shock.

"Yes, but—"

"There's no way they would succeed. The method Heidegger had planned has no setbacks. It's automatic. Once the plate-removing device has been activated, it will destroy the pillar," Reeve harshly stated.

Chorale became quiet. Then covered her mouth with her hand, letting out a cry. She pounded the table with her fist. Tears were in her eyes.

"I'm...I'm so selfish. I shouldn't have came here. I left them, left the people who helped me when nobody else would. I left them to die!" She cried in angst.

Chorale got up from the table and ran to the window, looking out towards the direction of Sector 7. She sees several lights and helicopters around that area, trying to clear the people out. Reeve followed behind her.

"Tifa...guys...my dear Allie...I'm coming," she whispered.

"Reeve, is there any way for me to get them out of there in time? Unless you refuse to help a member of Avalanche..."

Reeve nodded, "I'll help, but not because you're a member. There's an available helicopter at the weapons department helipad. Just follow the signs to get there. Here, this should grant you access to it."

He handed her a shiny yellow card and a large silver key. Chorale looked at him thankfully before leaving. Reeve smiled and sat down on the couch nearby.

"Heidegger...it's a miracle. I don't know if it's real or not...but Chorale came back..."

* * *

 _At the top of the stairs in Sector 7..._

Cloud made the first move on Reno who rolled underneath the broad sword being swung at his body. Barret shot directly at the Turk's head, but he quickly rolled to the side, however, a few shots managed to get to his ankles.

Reno grunted in pain from the bullets, wincing a little. Zack and Tifa struck on either side of Reno, who blocked Zack's sword with his electro-mag rod and immediately pulled out a yellow materia on Tifa. A translucent golden pyramid floated down around Tifa, trapping her inside.

"Ha, ha. Try and break it if you can!" Reno yelled as he tried to push Zack away from him, but to no avail.

Zack quickly drew his sword away, causing Reno to slide back a few feet.

"Hang on Tifa!" Cloud cried as he ran towards the pyramid, dragging his sword behind him.

With one great strike, Cloud managed to cause the entire pyramid to dissipate, freeing Tifa from it. She smiled in thanks at Cloud, who returned her smile.

Zack made another swipe at Reno, who blocked it again with his rod. Frustrated, Zack kept on striking him until Reno was backed to the railing.

Smirking, the Turk held up his hands in submit. Barret, Tifa, and Cloud rushed over to Zack's side. They all glared at him.

"Impressive ex-SOLDIER. But not impressive enough," Reno said under his breath.

He launched out his EMR and pointed it straight at Zack, who was at the receiving end of the nasty blue electric current. Zack fell to his knees in agony from the shock, allowing Reno to jump over him and run towards the control panel. Tifa rushed after him, her cheeks flushed in rage.

Barret aimed for Reno again, this time, choosing to shoot at his feet. He was successful, and Reno stumbled to the side, allowing Tifa to grab him by his jacket and knock him over with one swift kick from her right leg.

Reno fell onto his back, not moving. Giving him one last glare, Tifa rushed back to Zack with Barret.

Cloud was taking out his green cure materia. Holding it over Zack, he concentrated hard and caused the materia to glow, emitting a faint light. Zack's strength was immediately returned to him. Cloud offered his hand to Zack, who grabbed it and helped himself by to his feet.

"Thanks man."

"No problem," Cloud answered.

Their quiet moment of victory was interrupted by the sound of beeping. Turning their heads around, they see Reno stand up again, grinning from ear to ear. He nods in the direction of the support pillar.

"It's time," Reno whispered.

Without warning, he rushed right past Tifa, causing the girl to almost fall over. Cloud catches her before she could fall though. Reno then leapt over the side of the railing and down to the bottom of the staircase. Barret shot a few rounds down at the ground.

"That's right! And stay down there!" He yelled.

Tifa rushed to the control panel where the plate-removing device was implanted. Zack joined her, also examining the device. He gestured for her to move over and let him try. Zack pushed several buttons and removed some of the wires that connected the device to the control panel. However, nothing seemed to be happening.

Barret swore at the lack of improvement. "Come on! We've gotta get it down. It's a time bomb!" He shouted.

"We're trying! I don't know how to stop this! Cloud!" Tifa cried.

Zack shook his head as Cloud came over to help.

"Guys...this isn't a normal time bomb," Zack explained.

A helicopter suddenly appears next to the platform where the four people were standing. On the side of the helicopter was a Wutaiian man with long black hair and also wore a dark blue suit, like Reno. He stood on the rig of the helicopter, a blank expression on his face as he looks at the group of eco-terrorists.

"That's right. You'll have a hard time disarming that one. It'll blow the moment you make one wrong move on it," he explained.

Tifa looked at him with pleading eyes, "Please! Stop it."

"Sigh. Even if I want to, I can't. Only a ShinRa executive with access to this can disarm the Emergency Plate Release system," he said.

Zack's eyes widened at the sight of the dark haired Turk on the helicopter.

"Tseng! Why...why are you doing this? These are innocent people! Innocent people of Sector 7! Families, children, they're all going to die!" He cried.

Tseng's expression calmed a bit upon seeing Zack. He looked at him in pity.

"Do you think I do not know that? But orders are orders...I can't defy the higher ups. You of all people should know that. I'm sorry Zack...but if we aren't on the same side anymore, you do realize that I can't make any exceptions for you, as I did before," Tseng replied genuinely.

Zack was about to complain when Barret suddenly pushed him aside. He loaded up his gun and aimed directly at Tseng.

"Shut your piehole!" He readied to fire at the Turk.

Tseng suddenly reached into the helicopter to grab someone. He pulled the arm of a panicking Aeris. She shook her head at Avalanche to prevent them from doing anything irrational. Zack lost all sympathy for his former friend as soon as he saw Aeris. He raged.

"Aeris! Tseng, you piece of lowlife! How could you? I thought you were supposed to 'protect the subject!'" Zack cried.

"I am. Our orders were to catch the last remaining Ancient. I've been avoiding this for quite some time, but I can't keep it going any longer," Tseng answered.

"What are you going to do to Aeris?" Cloud demanded.

"That'll be up to the President to decide," Tseng replied.

Aeris leaned forward a tiny bit.

She looked directly at Tifa, "Tifa! Don't worry, they're safe! I got them to—"

Aeris was cut off by Tseng, who pushed her back into the helicopter.

"Aeris!" Tifa and Zack cried in unison.

"I'm sorry..." he barely whispered. "Well. The system should be starting anytime about now. If you want to escape with your lives, I suggest you do it now."

The Turk disappeared inside the helicopter as it began to fly away from the sector and back up to the plate. Above them, a single large explosion happened directly at the support pillar. The pillar immediately began crumbling and falling apart.

Rocks and debris tumbled down upon the Avalanche team as they ran around, desperately looking for a quick way out of the area. Tifa was the most frantic among them.

"Once that plate starts coming down, it'll be too late! We must hurry!" She cried.

Suddenly, the sound of a helicopter approached from behind them. It was another ShinRa issue helicopter, and it seemed to be heading straight for the platform. Barret groaned in protest.

"Seriously? They came back to finish us off?" He shook his head in digust.

"Hey guys!" A female voice pierced through the loud noise of rubble falling. Tifa looked closely at the pilot of the helicopter and gasped.

"It's Chorale! Everyone!" She cried.

Chorale stopped the helicopter midair right next to the platform. "I'm so sorry guys! Get on! We're getting outta here!"

Tifa, Cloud, Zack, and Barret immediately leapt over the railing and jumped into the helicopter. As soon as they were all in, Chorale started the vehicle again, flying as fast as she could towards Sector 6. Just as they left, the support pillar behind them finally gave in to the weight of the plate.

The plate of Sector 7 became loose around its metal hinges and tilted to one side, causing the force of gravity to pull that area down first, followed by the other side of the plate. The people of the neighbouring plates began to experience severe rumbling and electricity lost. They all looked out their windows to see what is going on. A few residents who weren't fast enough to escape, cried out in horror as they began falling alongside the plate.

The unlucky people of the slums only looked up in horror at their incoming doom. A few managed to evade and run due to their proximity to the edge of the sector, but most of the people ran around in panic, or just stayed still, hoping for their death to be a quick and painless one.

Families squeezed together. Friends held hands. Everyone shut their eyes as the plate finally smashed against the ground. A loud crash covered the sound of a thousand bones crunching underneath the giant piece of metal.

From the top of the ShinRa building, the President nodded in approval at the sight of the missing Sector 7 plate. He took a sip of his own wine to celebrate his success.

* * *

Chorale makes an emergency landing outside of Sector 6, right next to the playground.

"Damnit! I'm outta fuel!" She warned.

Barret's eyes never left the direction of Sector 7, Tifa is putting her head in her knees as Cloud sits beside her. Zack looks up to the ceiling of the helicopter, mentally disarrayed by what just happened. The helicopter hovers above the ground of Sector 6, but Barret immediately jumps off before it could land properly.

They all call after him as he runs towards the gate of Sector 7, which is now filled up with the debris of the plate. Chorale lands the helicopter and the rest of them jumped off and ran up to Barret, who was pounding against the piles of smoking metal.

He cried out in agony.

"Marlene! MARLENE! MAARRLLEENNEE! Biggs! Wedge! Jessie! Goddamnit! Damn it all to hell! What the hell's that for!? Argghh!" Barret continued to pound on the metal, tears streaking down his face.

Cloud and Tifa kept their distance from Barret, understanding the state and grief the man is in. Trying to get his attention, Cloud called out his name.

"Hey Barret!"

"Barret!" Tifa also called out.

Barret ignores them and lets out another cry, holding his head, "Arrgghh!"

Knowing that the man needs support, Cloud and Tifa ran up to his side. Zack's eyes never left the pile of ruins at the Sector 7 gate.

"Oh my gosh...why. Why did have to be like this!?" He cried.

Chorale fell to her knees and silently wept for all the lives lost. "Allie...I'm s—so sorry..." she stuttered.

Barret continued to ignore the calls of his friends. Tifa tried to pat him on the back. Cloud kneeled down beside him.

"Hey!" He tried to get his attention.

"Barret stop...please stop, Barret," Tifa gently asked.

Zack walked up to the crying man and looked down at him in sympathy. Chorale pulled herself together and also went up to the group by the gate. Barret aimed his gun at the rubble and began firing blindly at anything he could shoot at. Ventilating his anger out on the ruins of the sector.

"Urrrgghhh!" He shot several more rounds to get his feelings out. After a few more rounds, he stopped and fell to his knees. Tifa kept her hand on his shoulder.

"God damn..." Barret groaned.

* * *

 _Several minutes later..._

Barret is sitting near the slide with the cat dome. His eyes were wet from crying. Cloud and Tifa stood nearby, keeping a good watch over him as he slowly cooled down. Zack and Chorale left to scavenge for some gas in the Sector 6 maze. If anything were to happen, they would need the helicopter to escape.

Barret finally spoke after a long period of silence.

"Marlene..." he whispered the name his lost adoptive daughter.

Tifa finally knew what to say to make the man feel better.

"Barret? Marlene is...I believe Marlene is fine..." she told him.

That caught Barret's attention, he looked up at Tifa in shock.

"Huh?"

Tifa opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by the return of Zack and Chorale. They each carried two cannisters of gas. Zack gently smiled at them.

"Hey...so how's it going?" He asked.

Tifa nodded, "I think everything's going to be fine now. Listen Barret, remember the girl on the helicopter? Aeris? Well right before they took her, she said 'don't worry, they're safe.' She probably referring to Marlene and Allie."

Chorale put both cannisters down and ran up to Tifa.

"Allie? She's alright?"

"They're both alright," Tifa confirmed

Barret gets up to his feet. "R—really? But...Biggs, Wedge, Jessie..." he stopped there.

"All three of them were in the pillar," Cloud finished softly.

"You think I don't know that!? But...we...all us...we fought together. I can't think of them as being in there!" Barret wailed.

Tifa crossed her arms, looking down.

"...and the other people of Sector 7..."

Barret threw his hands down and walked around the area, reflecting on what just occurred.

"This is so screwed up! They killed so many people...just to get to us..."

Chorale shook her head, still ashamed of her leaving during a time when they needed her support.

"I'm so sorry guys...I should've been there to help out. I promise...I'll never leave you guys again!" She put one hand over her chest.

Cloud, Tifa, and Barret looked at her and all nodded.

"It's alright, we understand now. Just next time...don't be afraid to tell us clearly," Cloud soothed.

Tifa couldn't help but still feel guilty.

"Barret...are you saying that this whole mess is our fault? Because Avalanche was here? So many innocents lost their lives because of us?" Tifa asked.

Barret glared at her.

"No, Tifa! It ain't our fault! Hell no! It's the damn ShinRa company! They're evil, and destroying our planet just to...build their power and line their own damn pockets with gold! If we can't get rid of them, they'll kill this planet!" Barret sternly told her.

When Tifa didn't answer, Barret turned to Zack.

"What about you? Did you finally get to see what the true face of ShinRa really is? How does that make you feel?" He questioned.

"It makes me feel that I need to get something that is precious to me back," Zack answered in a low voice.

With that, Zack turned around and ran in the direction of Sector 5. Cloud followed him.

"Zack! Wait! I'm coming with you!" He called.

Zack stopped running. Cloud and the others were behind him.

"I need to find out about the...Ancients...and...Sephiroth?" Cloud suddenly fell to his knees, holding his head.

Zack and Tifa rushed to him.

"Are you alright?" Tifa asked.

"Pull it together man!" Barret said.

Cloud stood back up and nodded, "I'm fine guys. Lets go."

Zack held his arm back to keep him from going anywhere.

"I'm sorry, Cloud. But I won't get another chance to say this. So I will say this now. Cloud...you are not who you believe you are."

Cloud's eyes opened wide and his entire world turned to white before he finally passed out.

* * *

 **I've been busy revising all of my previous chapters for the past...how many days was it? Ah, forget about it. Thing is, I'm really picky about my work's quality, so be prepared for a lot of revisions to come.**


	9. Cloud's Memories

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or settings. This fanfiction is my only property. Square Enix, I bestow the rest upon thee.**

* * *

 **Disc 1 (Sector 6 maze): Cloud's memories**

Cloud opened his eyes and saw nothing but an endless sea of green. He felt as conscious as ever, but for some reason, he kept hearing the voices of his friends, desperately trying to call him awake.

Zack's voice as the loudest of them all.

"Cloud...Cloud...Cloud...can you hear me?" It echoed throughout Cloud's mind.

Cloud nodded his head slowly.

"Yeah...yeah...yeah...I can hear you." He answered.

By now, Cloud could see faint images of his friends, gathering around him. He sees his own body, limp on the ground, being held by Zack and Tifa. Barret and Chorale kneels down beside him, worried.

Cloud walks a little closer to see himself. His body, it was gently glowing a white light and his mouth was slightly agape, as if he was trying to speak to his friends. To tell them he was alright. But what shocked him most of all was the glow in his eyes, it was green, like the mako that was injected into him.

His eyes were expressionless, but his spirit was screaming out to his friends.

"Zack! Tifa! Barret! Chorale! I'm right here! I'm ok!" He shouted.

However, his body merely groaned the words he just yelled.

"Zack...Tifa...Barret...Chorale...I'm right here...I'm ok..." Cloud's body replied.

Tifa gasped in relief upon hearing Cloud's voice.

"Cloud! You can hear us! I can see it...you're searching for yourself aren't you?" She asked.

 _Searching for myself?_ Cloud thought. As soon as he thought that, images began to appear around him. Images of Niblheim, to be specific. He walked towards the front gate of his hometown village. Silently in awe.

"Zack. I think that Cloud can hear you just fine...take it from here. Tell him who his is..." Tifa said.

Zack nodded.

"Alright...listen, Cloud. I'm going to go over this slowly. What really happened at Niblheim five years ago..." He began.

Cloud turned around to see the image of four men walking towards the entrance of the village. Two were dressed in the uniform of an infantryman. One was dressed in a long black leather robe and had long silvery hair. The other man was himself.

This was his memories...this is what he remembers.

"Cloud...you weren't a SOLDIER at Niblheim...that was me..." Zack echoed.

Suddenly, the image of Cloud started to flicker and fade, being replaced by the image of Zack. Cloud's body began to move around a little. He groaned and tried to shake his head. Tifa held him steady.

"Zack...Zack...the SOLDIER first class...at Niblheim..." Cloud moaned.

Zack nodded, "That's right. And the other SOLDIER there was Sephiroth...I'm sure you remembered him..."

Cloud nodded his head just once.

"Sephiroth...he...found out something...and went mad..." Cloud continued.

New images began appearing in the place of the Niblheim entrance. Images of a young Tifa, dressed in a cowgirl outfit, standing next to Zack and Sephiroth to get their photo taken by a fellow villager. Then Cloud saw Tifa taking the whole group that came to the village up the mountain to get to the mako reactor.

Zack's voice came back again.

"Sephiroth...he found out his history at the mako reactor. He thought that he was made the same way as the monsters spawned inside the mako. That made him want to find out more..." He stopped there.

Flashes of white appeared and more images were seen. Zack and Sephiroth in the basement of the Niblheim mansion, talking about something. Sephiroth, then storming off, away from Zack. The dark haired SOLDIER ran after him.

Cloud's body began to shake. The incident of Niblheim was coming soon.

"Sephiroth began researching more about the ShinRa science department. He read about Dr. Gast's project on creating an Ancient hybrid. He eventually believed that he was an Ancient and sought out to 'take back what belonged to him once.' Heck, even I barely understand what his true goal was. But after he left the basement...oh god..." Zack's voice broke.

Tifa became deathly silent. Cloud's spirit turned around to see images of flames. Bright red and yellow flames, eating away the village where he grew up in. His body began violently shaking, so much that Chorale and Barret had to help hold him down. When the shaking was over, Cloud began to speak again.

"Why...Sephiroth...what right did he have...?" Cloud stammered.

"No right...that was inhumane and cruel...he's a monster..." Tifa seethed.

The final images began to appear, showing the events of inside the mako reactor. Cloud's spirit sees Tifa, kneeling over her dead father, before picking up the Masamune sword and charged towards the killer.

Sephiroth stood at the top of the stairs of the reactor and easily blocked Tifa when she attempted to stab him from behind. He took his sword back and sliced through the girl's abdomen, knocking her back down the stairs. That's when Zack entered the room, clearly distraught from the path of blood Sephiroth left behind.

He ran inside the confidential room Sephiroth entered at the top of the stairs. There, a fierce fight ensued between the two former comrades. Zack managed to hold his ground for quite awhile, but was no match for the overpowered Sephiroth.

The silver haired SOLDIER was quick in his slices and strikes, eventually tiring Zack and when he finally let his guard down, Sephiroth used one last hit to knock Zack back outside the room and he went tumbling down the stairs.

Cloud's body raised a hand to reach out to Zack. Zack held it warmly.

"Zack...where was I...? Where was I during this whole mess...?" He asked.

"You were...the one who got rid of Sephiroth...a mere infantryman...the one who saved both me...and Tifa..." Zack answered.

At the same time, an image of an infantryman rushed into the mako reactor, he gasped at the sight of Tifa and Zack, injured and lying on the ground. The infantryman went over and grabbed Zack's Buster sword and charged inside the room where Sephiroth was standing on top of a pipe, reaching out to touch an alien creature, named 'Jenova.'

While Sephiroth was distracted with Jenova, Cloud ran up from behind and stabbed the SOLDIER right through the back with the sword.

"My mom...Tifa...Niblheim...all my friends...give them back! I had so much respect for you...I looked up to you!" The infantryman cried.

His voice cracked due to the pain in saying those words. Tears were fiercely streaming down his face from underneath his large helmet. Even his hands were shaky as he held the Buster sword in place, impaled through the back of Sephiroth and out his front.

He immediately pulled the sword out and ran back outside, pulling his helmet off, revealing the blonde head and the face of Cloud Strife. Cloud rushed towards Zack, feeling for a pulse. When he felt a gentle beat on the man's neck, he went over to Tifa and lifted her up, carrying her to a more comfortable position on the ground.

Suddenly, the peaceful moment was ruined by Sephiroth appearing at the top of the stairs, limping in pain and carrying the head of the Jenova. Zack groggily sat up and told Cloud to finish the man off. Doing as he was commanded, Cloud grabbed the Buster sword again and charged towards Sephiroth, who pushed him back, one handedly into the room behind the mako chamber.

In the other room, Cloud lay on the metal platform as Sephiroth came up and stabbed him through the abdomen with Masamune and lifted him up to his feet. Suddenly, a great drive of force and sheer determination caused Cloud to grab the sword sticking from his stomach and lifted Sephiroth off the ground.

Using his body as an anchor, he swept Sephiroth over to the side of the platform, getting rid of the sword from his body. Sephiroth fell down into the deep mako pits. Him and the head of Jenova. Never to be seen again.

Zack began to speak again.

"After that...ShinRa came to clean up the mess and to kill any witnesses. Professor Hojo took me and you in, we were his experiments for about four years...until I woke up one day and broke both of us out..."

Images of the basement of Niblheim mansion appeared, Zack was on the ground, broken glass strewn around him from breaking his experiment tube. He punched out a scientist who attempted to put him back inside. Zack went over to Cloud's tube and drained all of the mako out before releasing him.

"Due to the experiments...you were affected by mako poisoning and that's probably why your memories were all jumbled up. I had to pull you alongside on our journey back to Midgar...we had to constantly avoid ShinRa, who were on the search for us..."

An image of Zack and Cloud on the back of the truck formed. There were on the Midgar wastelands by now. Bullets were suddenly fired at them from an unknown attacker. Zack immediately commanded the truck driver to pull over and drop them off. He did as he was told.

"When we were right outside of our destination...I had to take care of the last blockade ShinRa sent for us...and...well..." Zack trailed off.

Resting Cloud against the rocks of the wasteland, Zack rubbed his head and went on to clear a path for the both of them. Flashes of images from Zack's fight with the whole ShinRa army was appearing here and there. They were going by so fast that Cloud can't decipher all of them.

Eventually, the flashes slowed down to one image of Zack being shot down by the last three infantrymen, tired from his long battle. The last image appeared. The sky was dark, and it was raining, Cloud crawled from his sitting place towards Zack's body. He leaned over his friend, tears of shock and grief in his eyes.

Zack reached out for Cloud and placed his forehead on his bloody chest, before finally handing over his Buster sword and closing his eyes. Cloud let out a cry of pain that echoed throughout the wasteland.

Large flashes of white began to glow all around Cloud's spirit as he fell to his knees and shouted in agony. Cloud's body was still and quiet. A single tear dripped from his left eye and rolled down his cheek. Tifa gently wiped it off with her thumb.

Cloud's spirit screamed as all of the images that appeared before him began to combine and gather together, before flying straight towards his head. After all the images disappeared inside of Cloud, he fell back and closed his eyes, joining together with his limp body again.

The glow in Cloud's eyes began to die down as well as the glow from his body. He blinked once, twice, three times, before being able to see the faces of his friends before him. Zack held him up while Tifa waved before his eyes.

Barret patted him on the back, trying to wake him up a bit more. He coughed upon the impact.

"Watch it Barret! I think he's awake." Chorale scolded.

Cloud opened his eyes wide, gazing all around him. He could see that he's still on the ground outside of the Sector 6 maze. He looked from Zack to Tifa, and breathed deeply. Tifa leaned forward towards Cloud's face.

"Cloud? Cloud? Please say something." She begged.

Cloud nodded slowly and struggled to sit up straight. He cleared his throat a bit before speaking.

"Everybody...Zack...I...I...can see it now..." He said.

Barret encouraged him to go on. "See what? What you mean?"

"The truth...what really happened. I'm me again. I'm the real Cloud Strife." He confirmed.

Everybody began cheering and high fiving each other. Zack happily put an arm around Cloud's shoulder while Tifa squeezed him until his face began to turn red. He choked for air.

"Tifa...could you just...loosen up a bit?" He choked.

She loosened her grip, but didn't let go. Zack rubbed Cloud on the head, messing up his hair.

"Glad to have you back again, buddy!" He cried.

Cloud tried to straighten his hair again. "Thanks. Thank you so much! I'm so grateful to have you here!" Cloud said with tears in his eyes.

Barret gave him one last one crushing pat on the back. Chorale held out her hand to give him an up top.

Despite her smiles, cheers, and the sheer happiness of this moment. Chorale couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy. Cloud was like her. His memories were weird too. What made him so special that he got it back already? Still, she had to admit it. Cloud was lucky to have someone like Zack to be here.

Zack, who the last person Cloud interacted with before losing his memories, had the power to restore them. Chorale wondered silently if she would also be so lucky to meet her special person too.

After all the celebrating and thank you's were done. Cloud turned his attention back on their current goal. He walked to the front of the group, like a real leader.

"Alright guys. We need to get to Aeris's home and tell her mother what happened to her. We'll meet up with Marlene and Allie there as well."

Chorale and Barret nodded.

Cloud continued speaking. "After that, our goal is to rescue Aeris from ShinRa. It's the least we could do in return for getting the kids to safety."

"That's right. And didn't that Turk, Tseng, was it? Didn't he say something about Aeris being an 'Ancient?' We should ask her about why exactly ShinRa wants to hold her captive." Tifa explained.

Barret punched his fist into his hand. "Well there's only one way to find out."

Cloud agreed.

"Lets go!"

* * *

On the way to Aeris's house, Avalanche passed by several people who witnessed the fall of Sector 7's plate. Most of them were horrified about that 'accident.' Or at least that's what ShinRa is reporting it as. An 'accident' that was caused by the group, Avalanche.

Luckily, nobody is really paying attention to what caused it, they were all too caught up in their own fears to care who were the bringers of Sector 7's destruction. Barret was especially mad at ShinRa's accusation of Avalanche being the ones who brought the plate down. Tifa still felt guilty for all the lives lost inside the sector.

Cloud felt bad for getting Aeris caught up in the whole mess, while Zack was enraged at being separated from his long-lost love again. Chorale felt horrible about leaving them in the time of crisis to pursue her own personal desires.

Yet, despite all their negative emotions, the group of people didn't lose their focus or their composure. They kept on going, they won't stop until they got rid of ShinRa!

Eventually, Aeris's home came into view. The flower gardens were as lovely as ever when Cloud and his friends reached there, but without the flower girl here with them, this whole place seemed to be missing something great of value. Walking up to the front door, Cloud saw that it was slightly ajar.

He opens it to see if anyone was already inside. No one out of the ordinary was in the house. Aeris's mother, Elmyra, raised her head from the table where she is sitting at. She immediately stood up to greet her visitors.

"You're...you're name is Cloud? Right? And you...I remember, it's Chorale right? These must the rest of your friends. Please, come in. Welcome back." The woman kindly greeted.

Cloud and co. politely walked in. He looked directly at Elmyra, sincerity in his eyes.

"Mrs. Gainsborough, there's no easy way to say this, but..."

"It's about Aeris? Isn't it?" Elmyra already knew the answer.

Cloud looked down guiltily. "I'm sorry...ShinRa got her. This is my fault..."

Barret stood up. "It's not Cloud's fault, Mrs. Gainsborough. We all played a part in this," he defended.

Elmyra shook her head sadly.

"It's ok. I understand. They took her from here," she explained.

"They were here?" Cloud gasped.

"That's what Aeris wanted..." Elmyra replied, folding her arms across her chest.

Finally, Cloud spilled the question. "What does ShinRa want with Aeris?"

Elmyra looked up to make eye contact with all of them. "Aeris is an Ancient. The sole survivor," she said solemnly.

Barret looked confused. "Wait, what did you say? But aren't you her mother?"

"Not her real mother." Elmyra shook her head. "Oh...it must have been 15 years ago...during the war. My husband was a colonel in the ShinRa army, he was sent to the front. The war...it took was in some faraway place called Wutai."

All of Avalanche became intent on hearing what Elmyra had to say. The middle aged woman sighed and sat down on one of the table's chairs.

"One day, I went to the station because I got a letter saying that he was coming home on leave."

 _A young Elmyra walks to the Sector 7 train station, looking vibrant and hopeful. There were two teenagers hanging out around the lamp post by the station, laughing about. The train emerged from the tunnel and came to a gradual stop at the station's platform. Several people came out of it._

 _There was a young man who jumped off the train to ran to a girl whom he immediately sweeps her off her feet. Another older man gets off the train and his wife runs up to him, giving him a hug before they leave the station together. After awhile, the passengers were thinning, but Elmyra still didn't see her husband anywhere._

 _Eventually, all of the people emptied out of the train. Worrying, Elmyra went up to the train conductor, asking if there's anymore passengers on board. But the conductor shook his head and went back on the train._

 _"My husband never came back. I wondered for a long time if something happened to him. But I just assured myself, saying that his leave was probably canceled or something. I went to the station everyday...then one day..." Elmyra told them._

 _Elmyra walked to the station again, this time appearing to be very tired. An injured and bloody young woman with light brown hair and dressed in magenta and pink robes was lying on the steps of the station platform. It was still very early, so no one was about except for Elmyra._

 _She immediately ran over to the injured woman's side, noticing that there was a young girl who looked like a lot like the woman, standing there and crying. Elmyra assumed that she was the woman's daughter. She began to desperately activate a cure materia, but it had no affect on the woman. She shook her head at Elmyra, telling her to come in close._

 _"You used to see this sort of thing a lot during the war. Her last words were, 'Please, take Aeris somewhere safe,'" Elmyra explained. "My husband never came back. I had no children of my own, my life would be a very lonesome one. So that's why I took her home with me. Aeris and I became close very quickly. That child loved to talk. She would tell me about everything. She told me that she and her mother escaped from some research laboratory somewhere. And that her mother returned to the planet, so now she isn't lonely...she told me many sorts of things."_

"'Returned to the planet?'" Barret asked.

"I didn't know what she meant. I asked if she meant a star in the sky, but she said that it was this planet...she was a mysterious child...in many ways," Elmyra laughed at those memories.

 _A seven year old Aeris walked down the stairs and went up to Elmyra, holding both of her hands in her own, and looking up meet her foster mother's eyes._

 _"Mom please don't cry," Aeris said._

 _"Aeris just blurted that out all of a sudden. When I asked her if something happened..." Elmyra continued._

 _"Someone dear to you had just died. His spirit was coming to see you...but he has now returned to the planet," Aeris gently explained._

 _"At that time, I didn't believe her. But...several days later, we received a notice informing me that my husband died...and that's how it was. A lot happened...but we were happy...until one day..." Elmyra stopped there, pausing for a bit._

 _Tseng of the Turks stood in the front entrance of Elmyra's house. Elmyra stood her ground before the intimidating aura of the man before her. Aeris hid behind her dress, peaking just a bit._

 _"We'd appreciate it if you returned Aeris to us. We've been searching for her for a long time," Tseng said to Elmyra._

 _Aeris appeared from behind her mother. "No! Never!" She spat._

 _"Aeris, you are a very special child. You are of special blood. Your real mother was an 'Ancient,'" Tseng tried to explain to the young girl._

 _Elmyra sighed and turned to Cloud. "Of course, I heard it. That she was an Ancient."_

 _Tseng faced Elmyra directly._

 _"The Ancients will lead us to a land of supreme happiness. Aeris will able to bring happiness to all those in the slums. That's why ShinRa would like her cooperation..." Tseng replied._

 _"He's wrong! I'm not an Ancient! I'm not!" Aeris was throwing her hands down and stomping her feet by now._

 _Tseng bent down to the girl's eye level. "But Aeris, surely, you'd hear voices sometimes in your head when you're all alone? Don't you?" He persuaded._

 _"No, I don't!" Aeris ran upstairs._

 _"But I knew, I knew about her mysterious powers...she trys so hard to hide it. So I acted as if I never noticed," Elmyra explained._

Avalanche was in awe of Elmyra's story. Their determination in rescuing Aeris increased.

"It's amazing how she avoided ShinRa for all these years..." Cloud remarked.

"I still remember when Cissnei first told me about Aeris being an 'Ancient,' and how the Turks constantly keep watch on her. Only then, I didn't believe it was this big of a deal. I promise, Mrs. Gainsborough, we'll rescue your daughter. I swear it." Zack said.

Elmyra looked at Zack intently, recognition flooded her eyes.

"You're...aren't you Aeris's old boyfriend from SOLDIER? Where were you for the past five years?! Do you know how much pain my daughter was in?! She wrote over 89 letters to you!" Elmyra cried.

Barret looked at Zack with a raised brow. "Boyfriend?"

Zack nodded, ashamed of his actions. "I know, and I got the last one. I'm so sorry. There was an 'incident' at the last mission I was assigned to. That prevented me from making any contact with the outside world at all," he explained.

Cloud put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Trust me. I was there as well. But if it wasn't for him, the both of us wouldn't be here right now."

Elmyra's expression calmed a bit, and she looked sad again.

"Things like this just keep happening...oh Aeris...why did ShinRa need you so soon?" She asked.

"Why now...?" Tifa wondered.

"She brought two little girls with her. On the way here, Tseng found them. She couldn't get away fast enough, so she decided to let ShinRa have her in exchange for their safety," Elmyra explained.

"Two little girls? You mean Marlene and Allie?" Cloud asked.

Barret ran forward along with Chorale. "Marlene! Aeris was caught because of Marlene?" He cried.

"And Allie? Are they safe?" Chorale desperately asked.

Elmyra nodded, "Yeah, they're safe, thanks to Aeris."

"I'm so sorry...Marlene's my daughter. I'm really sorry..." Barret stuttered.

Elmyra looked at the man incredulously. "You're her father!? How in the world could you leave a child alone like that!?" She shouted.

Barret shook his head and looked to the ground.

"Please don't start with that. I think about it all the time...what would happen to Marlene if I...but you gotta understand. I don't have a choice! I wanna be with Marlene, but I have to fight too! Or else...this planet will die, along with Marlene's future...so I'm gonna keep fighting! But I also wanna be with Marlene, always...see? I'm going 'round in circles now!" Barret explained.

"I think I understand what you're saying...she's upstairs asleep, why don't you go and see her? As for Allie, she's playing in Aeris's room—"

"Mommy!" Allie suddenly ran down from the stairs and into Chorale's waiting arms. She scooped her daughter off her feet and squeezed her tight.

"Mommy! It was so scary! The big thing fall down, and, and, the cwash was so loud! Den dis scary man came up and was all mean to the pwetty flower lady, and, and, I was so scared! I was cwying! I'm happy you're here!" Allie sobbed.

Chorale nuzzled her head against Allie's blonde hair. "I know baby, I'm sorry I wasn't there. It should've been me who came to get you."

Elmyra smiled as Chorale held Allie close and stayed still. Barret walked upstairs to find Marlene. Tifa still looks a bit sad, though.

"It's my fault. I asked Aeris to get them to safety. I'm the one who got her involved."

"Don't say that. Aeris doesn't think that," Elmyra reassured.

"Still...I feel so depressed," Tifa said quietly.

Elmyra sighed and sat down again, looking off into the distance. Chorale, still holding Allie, walked over to Cloud.

"Hey, Cloud. Remember that helicopter I used to get us out of Sector 7? Well, I borrowed it from this ShinRa employee when I went to the plate. If I don't return it soon, ShinRa might send people out looking for it. Which could mean more trouble for us. So..." She waved her hands to give Cloud the idea.

"Wait, can't you take all of us up the plate with that helicopter? I mean, the train isn't working anymore now," Cloud asked.

"I could, but it would very risky. Bringing in a whole lot of people there, we'll be easily caught by them. Even the employee who lended me this helicopter can't vouch for all of us. I'll go up first, then I'll meet you guys on the 61st floor of the building. Trust me, on this one, I'm not trying to leave again," Chorale pleaded.

Cloud opened his mouth to complain, but decided against it. Sighing, he agreed to her plan.

"Alright. Just be careful. Both you and Allie. We'll meet you there on the 61st floor." He allowed her to leave.

Chorale smiled at Cloud and walked towards the front door of the house, Tifa looked up in confusion. "Wait, what's going on?" She asked.

"She needs to return that ShinRa helicopter before that company can come and retrieve it." Cloud quickly explained.

Tifa sighed, "Oh, I see."

Cloud scratched the back of his head, thinking about what to do. Finally, he turned around and walked upstairs to the second floor. On the second floor, the door to one of the bedrooms was wide open. Barret was in there with Marlene.

The man was kneeling in front of the little girl, holding her close and crying.

"I'm so glad...I'm so glad you're alright..." He wept.

Marlene made a frowny face and wiggled her finger at him. "Daddy, don't cry. Your whiskers hurt!" She commanded.

Cloud smiles, glad to see Barret in a good mood again. He decides not to bother them, so he turns around to go back down the stairs. Barret however, notices him before he could leave.

"Cloud! You're gonna go help Aeris right? She's already done so much for me...If it's ShinRa you're dealin' with, then count me in!" He cried, standing up.

Barret made his way past Cloud and downstairs. Marlene ran from the bedroom and towards Cloud, jumping around and smiling.

"Guess what? Guess what? Aeris told me about all kinds of things about the planet! She says she can talk to it! She's really special, don't you think?"

Cloud chuckled at the little girl's innocence. "Yeah, she's really special." He agreed.

"But she's caught by some bad people..." Marlene said sadly.

Cloud's face darkened, "Yeah, and we're going to get her back."

"The both of us, together," Zack suddenly replied from behind Cloud.

Cloud nodded and turned around to face his friend.

"Yeah."

The two men joined hands to symbolize their union before walking back downstairs to meet with the rest of Avalanche.

* * *

 **Cloud got his memory back! I absolutely loved writing that part when he was experiencing all those flashback images with Zack's voice narrating the events in the background. (Kind of got the idea of having Cloud's spirit being able to see everything that's happening, but having no control over his body from "If I Stay." So I'll give them some credit for being my inspiration.)** **So yeah, I made it that Zack was the one who returned Cloud's correct memories to him. Because he was the last person who was with Cloud before he lost his memories. (That's my personal theory. Zack also had a strong relationship with Cloud, so that also triggered somethings to happen as well.)**


	10. Story of the Flower Girl

**Oh! It's been too long! I'm so sorry! I'm not even gonna try to make up any excuses (other than my own laziness) for the lateness of this chapter! I hope you guys enjoy it!**

 **PS. Future chapters would probably take even longer to come out. Sorry**

* * *

 **Disc 1 (Aeris's home): Story of the Flower Girl**

Cloud and Zack went back downstairs, the rest of Avalanche was standing there, looking anxious and a tiny bit tired. Tifa was leaning against the wall and crossing her arms when the two men came down. She smiled upon seeing Cloud.

"Hey. We're all going after Aeris right?" She asked.

Zack nodded fiercely. "Darn right, we are! I won't stop until she's a least a mile's radius away from the ShinRa building!" He cried.

Barret and Tifa agreed with him. Cloud huddled the entire group close together.

"Alright, here's the plan...we're infiltrating the ShinRa headquarters. There's no promises that things will go the way we want it to go. We're going to have to be careful and make our way to the 61st floor, where Chorale would be waiting for us. From there, we'll stay together or split up, whatever is better, and go to search for Aeris. No one should engage in battle unless absolutely necessary. Got it?" Cloud explained.

They all nodded. Cloud sighed in relief. "Alright then, lets go!"

Barret quickly turned around to face Elmyra.

"Sorry, but can you take care of Marlene just a bit longer?" He asked.

"Yes, I don't mind," Elmyra admitted.

"This is a dangerous place now, you better go somewhere safe," Barret suggested out of concern.

Elmyra shook her head gently. "...You're right. But promise me that you'll come back to her. Don't get yourself killed," she strictly ordered.

Barret shook the woman's hand in gratitude before joining the rest of his comrades. They all went out the front door and Elmyra quietly shut it behind them. Outside, Tifa suddenly realized something important. She stopped the group from running blindly down the sector.

"Wait! How do we get to the ShinRa building?" She wondered.

Zack did a facepalm in annoyance at his own stupidity. "Of course! That should've been the first step to our plan!"

"There ain't no train that goes up there anymore..." Barret confirmed. "Why the hell didn't Chorale take all of us up in that damn helicopter?"

"Safety in fewer numbers." Cloud explained. "It's safer for her to not suddenly bring in a whole group of people for all of ShinRa to capture."

Zack scratched his head, thinking furiously. "Well, what plans do you have in mind guys?"

"...Well, lets just go to Wall Market. There's all kinds of things there, I'm sure we'll find something." Tifa suggested.

"Now there's an idea! Come on, lets go!" Zack praised.

They all ran towards the Wall Market.

* * *

 _At the top of the plate..._

Chorale carefully landed the helicopter on the large 'H' pad and switched off all its gears. She unbuckled her seat belt before getting up and unbuckling Allie's belts as well. Looking around to see if anyone is coming out, she made her way down from the helicopter, putting Allie on her back with the carrier, and walked over to the metal door that led to the inside of the weapons development building.

A security guard was inside there, surprised upon seeing Chorale. "Hey. What were you doing with that helicopter? Were you authorized to use it?" He questioned.

Chorale showed him the card and keys that Reeve gave to her, granting satisfied nod from the guard.

"Sorry to bother you miss, go on." The guard kept walking down the halls and disappeared around the corner.

Chorale smiled as she walked towards the elevator that would take her to the front lobby of the main building. Once she's reached the lobby, she went up to one of the two elevators at the second level. Reeve was there, waiting patiently with a smile on his face.

"There you are. I thought it was you when I heard the sound of a helicopter nearby. Here, you're going to need these keycards if you want to access the floors above level 60."

He handed her several yellow keycards with their corresponding floor numbers printed in black upon it.

"Thank you so much, Reeve. I'm glad that there's someone like you in ShinRa," she gushed.

"Mm. Hey, who's that little one you've got on your back?" He gestured to Allie, who blinked innocently at the man.

"This is Allie, my daughter," Chorale explained. "Though, I can't really say that I have any memory of her being born...or who the father is..."

Reeve was appalled to hear this. "Daughter...?"

He fiddled with his fingers before finally giving Chorale a PHS with a number typed on it.

"Here. Use this if you want to contact me within the building. You should be safe here overall, but this is just in case..."

Chorale nodded, "I understand. Anyways, I'll be resting at floor 61, 'kay?"

With that, she and Allie disappeared inside the doors of an opened elevator. Reeve walked towards the front receptionist desk to retrieve some files for the upcoming meeting with President ShinRa and the rest of the board of directors. He was still shocked at the recent conversation.

"Her daughter? But the Chorale I knew wasn't in a relationship with anyone at all, well at least before her sudden disappearance. What could've happened...?" He wondered.

* * *

 _At the Wall Market..._

Cloud and co. was inside the cool metal shop of a weapons dealer. The gruffy man snorted from behind the fenced counter. He pointed his index finger to the up direction.

"You wanna go up to the plate? Then you'd better have a battery," he said to Cloud.

"That battery was just outside this store when we got here. You're gonna sell us something you just found out on the streets?" Cloud asked skeptically.

Zack pushed him out of the way. "Is the battery still usable? If it is, we'll take it! How much for it?" He demanded.

The dealer scratched his head, some dandruff floated off of his scalp.

"Well, er, lets see...how 'bout 100 gil for each?" He suggested.

Zack took out some gil from his back pocket and handed it to the man.

"Deal. But, how do these help us get up to the plate?" Zack asked.

Barret sighed. "See? This is why we ask the important questions before buying the items! For all we know, this guy could be a con man!"

The dealer held up his hands in fake submission. "Whoa whoa. I think you're carried away there big buddy!"

He leaned forward so all of Avalanche could hear his voice, "I'm not tricking y'all or something. You do need those batteries. You'll understand me once you start climbing up."

The dealer went to the back of his shop again and shut the door behind him. Loud crashes and buzzes could be heard, which is assumed that he is busy fixing more of his weapons. Cloud took half of the batteries from Zack and examined them.

"Well, they certainly look like they still work. Come on, lets see what he means 'once you start climbing up.'" He led everyone back outside onto the streets of Wall Market.

* * *

The shop was near Don Corneo's mansion, which seemed rather dull and quiet now. On the street next to the mansion's entrance, were several young children. They were all laughing and jumping around. One of them suddenly leaned in close and said something really softly.

"Wanna see something awesome?" He whispered. "Come on, follow me!"

The group of children all ran down the street and into an alleyway that stretched in the opposite direction of the Don's mansion. Curious, Cloud and the others followed the kids from behind and into the darker area of Wall Market. In the alley, the children were hanging around a gigantic stone wall that separated Sector 6 from Sector 7.

Zack looked up and saw that some of the kids were sitting on top of the stone wall, gaping at the ruins of Sector 7 on the other side. There was a little girl who stood next to a long silver wire that seemed to lead all the way to the top. She shivered at the sight of the height.

"Everyone climbed up this wire...but it looks so scary, brr..." She covered her arms with her hands.

Tifa walked up to the girl, smiling down at her. "Can we climb it?" She asked.

"Mmhmm. It leads to the upper world," the girl nodded.

"Alright! We'll climb this wire!" Barret commanded. Zack rubbed his hands together and stretched his biceps. "On it."

Cloud slowed everyone down, being practical about this opportunity.

"There's no way we can do this. Do you two even know how far it goes up?" He challenged.

Barret glared at the blonde man. "There _is_ a way! Look!" He pointed to the top of the wire.

"What does that look like to you?"

Cloud scratched his chin. "Looks like our soon-to-be-deaths; hitting the ground too hard," he answered.

"If you don't wanna be a part of this, it's fine. But I'm going up, because Aeris is up there," Zack replied. Cloud tried to talk some sense into his friend.

"It's just a normal wire," he reasoned.

Barret scoffed, "Well to us, it looks like a shiny golden wire of hope."

Tifa also looked up to see where the wire leads to. She thought about it carefully, before making her decision.

"Cloud, I think that they're right. It's the only way to save Aeris..."

"Ok, that was a bad analogy Barret, but I understand how you and Zack feel. Sorry 'bout that, I just don't anybody to get hurt," Cloud said.

Zack smiled, "Don't worry, nobody will if we're all careful." He hoisted his body onto the wire and began climbing up it.

Barret followed close behind, then Cloud, and finally, Tifa, who insisted on being at the bottom of line due to her state of dress. Soon, they got to the top of the stone wall. A few kids were sitting upon it, some were cheering for the Avalanche team to make it to the top.

The rest of them were staring at the fallen Sector 7 plate, horrified. One kid was shaking his head, clearly upset. "Oh man! This is horrible..."

"Hey, scary huh? Dad told me it's ShinRa's doing," another kid explained.

Hearing that made Avalanche boost their speed in climbing. _That's right, ShinRa did do that. It's up to us to make sure they won't do anything like that ever again!_ They all thought. After a few more seconds of climbing, Zack reached the top of the wire, which was attached to a large metal pipe. He climbed on top of it.

Zack quickly put out his hand to help Cloud to up, who turned around to help Barret onto the pipe. Cloud then went past Barret to help out Tifa. Once all four of them were on the pipe, they looked around for anything they could use to get all the way up to the plate. All around them were a large tangle of pipes and old train tracks hanging here and there.

Luckily, all those broken pipes and wires seemed to lead to the plate. They just needed to know how to get up. Tifa spotted a large propeller on the right side of the pipe where they were standing on. She pointed it out to the rest of them, and Cloud and Zack made their way across the pipe and climbed up the nearby ladder to get to the propeller.

Cloud kneeled down to look at it. "Hmm, this needs something," he remarked.

Zack nodded towards a battery slot on a pipe in front of the propeller. "There. A battery should be able to fit in that slot. Cloud, try it out, maybe this is what that dealer was talking about," he suggested.

Cloud made his way back down the ladder and ran across the pipe towards the slot, where he inserted the battery. The propeller begins to slowly spin. After awhile, the propeller slows down to a stop. One of its arms bridged its way to another pipe across from the group. Grinning, Zack lead the way down the path. Cloud, Barret, and Tifa followed close behind.

They made their way across a loose set of train tracks that lead to an old black and yellow train bar. There was another battery slot beside it. This time, Zack put his battery in, which lowered the long bar. It lead to a very large pipe. There was a thinner pipe swinging back and forth from it, similar to a vine in the jungle.

Avalanche climbed up a smaller pipe from the large pipe to get to the swinging pipe. Zack looked at the swinging pipe, back and forth, back and forth, judging its timing and momentum. Taking a deep breath, he waited for the perfect moment to jump and took a great leap. He hits the pipe just as it was about to swing back across to the other side, and lands on the pipe there.

He turned around and waited for the rest of his friends to catch up with him. Once Tifa got to the other side, they all continued to climb up the pipe they were standing on. That pipe lead to a much thinner pipe which bridged across to another pipe. From there, they climbed up to another pipe above them and jumped onto the last large pipe.

That pipe was flat enough for all of them to run on, so they ran across the pipe and made all the way to the top of the plate. Cloud sighed in relief, glad that there were no sever casualties, despite the sketchiness of the whole climb.

* * *

On top of the plate, the ShinRa building shone gloriously amongst the night sky above Midgar. Headlights were dancing around, illuminating its already overwhelming appearance. All of Avalanche glared at it, and Barret silently cursed at all the employees inside. Zack pointed up ahead, signaling for the rest of them to run forward.

Soon, they all reached the front steps of the building, there weren't many people around right now luckily, so nobody's noticing a tiny group of misfits directly outside the main entrance.

Zack stopped before it, taking time to examine his situation. He couldn't help but laugh a bit. Barret looked at him funny.

"Sorry. It's just that, I used to be able to walk through this door loud and proud, and not be worried about getting caught. But now...well, I've never felt so scared to enter this building my whole life," Zack admitted.

"Welcome to our world," Barret patted him on the back in congratulations. "So now what? I heard that every floor above the 60th is special. It's not easy to access it, even for regular employees."

"That's must be where they're keeping Aeris," Zack confirmed.

Cloud thought about it. "Hold on, but Chorale said that _she_ is on the 61st floor right now. So I'm going assume that she's got access to those floors. She'll be able to help us this way," he reminded.

"Great! Well, security seems pretty light right now. Lets go in!" Barret cried.

Tifa pulled him by his vest. "Wait a second! You're not thinking about busting through the front entrance, are you?" She squinted her eyes at him.

"Well, what else does it look like!? I'm gonna go in there, and kick some ShinRa asses—"

"That's not gonna work! We've got to find another way," Tifa scolded.

Barret put his hands up in the air. "Ain't gonna be any other way! If we keep wastin' time like this, Aeris is gonna..."

"I know that! But what if we get caught? What if? Have you thought about that!?" Tifa challenged.

Cloud went up to Zack to see what he thinks of all this. "Hey, buddy. How do you think we should approach this?"

Zack stood up to face all of them. "I also want to save Aeris. But I'm going to make sure we'll actually save her. So lets get in through the employee's stairs at the back of the building. It's night, therefore it's quiet, but...well, it's stairs...and there's a lot of floors..."

He pointed up to the top of the building to emphasize his point.

Tifa nodded her head. "It's a good idea. There's little chance that we'll get caught," she agreed.

Barret sighed and followed them towards the back of the building. Zack opened the large metal door that said 'employees only.' Inside, was the long flight of cool metal stairs. Barret looked up and immediately got dizzy from it. He leaned back against the wall for support.

"I swear, I'll never be able to look at stairs the same way again after this..." He thought.

* * *

 _At the 61st floor of the building..._

Chorale stood up from the couch where she's been sitting on for the past half hour or so. She had let Allie down to play around the area. The entire floor was nearly empty by now, a few employees were still sitting around nearby, most likely working night shift. Chorale smiled as she walks towards the large window in front of her. She gazed at the brightly lit city of Midgar.

The feeling was almost nostalgic. She knows that she's seen this view plenty of times before, but where? And when? Taking a moment to embrace the silence of the area, she closed her eyes and sighed.

"Well, I've time before Cloud and the others arrive. Wouldn't hurt to go exploring around a little," she thought.

Walking over to Allie, she picked her up and put her back in the carrier. She then went up to the elevator and used her keycard to go to the 62nd floor. The elevator doors opened once it reached its destination, revealing a long carpeted hallway that leads down to several rooms and offices.

The whole place was very quiet, apart from a few employees who were still inside their office, typing texts onto their screens and stamping documents. Chorale quietly made her way through the halls, looking at the rooms she's passing by. Four of them were extremely large, and held bookshelves filled with notebooks and files meant for each department.

She stopped in front of the room which held the documents for the department of Public Safety and Maintenance. Gently opening the door, she saw that no one was in there, so entered the room. On one side of the wall, she could see several photos of past department heads. But she only focused on the most recent one.

It was a photo of a middle aged man with dark hair and matching beard.

"Heidegger...so this is him. _Ah!"_

 _Flashes of white danced around Chorale's eyes. She's once again, looking through the point of view of the same young girl from before. This time, she could see a man standing beside her. It was Heidegger._

 _But there was another person on her other side. She was a young girl, taller than her, and had very deep brown hair, but also closely resembled her appearance as well. She smiled in her direction, patting her on the head._

 _"It's ok, Chorale. This is our new home now," she said._

 _Heidegger suddenly scooped her up with one hand and opened the door with the other, revealing the beautiful interior of the apartment behind it._

 _"Allison's right. Welcome to your new home," he said._

 _Through her point of view, she could hear herself laugh and clap her hands, "This is where you live? It's so pretty, 'Egger! But it's different..."_

 _The other girl, Allison, walked into the lobby of the apartment and turned around to look at her._

 _"I know, but mom and dad would want us to be safe here. I'm still here! And now we have Heidegger!"_ _She ran into the living room, laughing._

 _Heidegger put the girl he's holding in his arms back down, allowing her to run after Allison._

 _"Go on, Chorale. Play with your sister."_

"Sister...is she my...?" Chorale wondered in awe.

"Is there anything here that would help me?"

She began scouring through the documents in the bookshelves, going through every last page of them. Making sure that she didn't miss a spot. Eventually, she came across a document with a profile that read the name, 'Allison *****.' She was disappointed to see that the last name was censored. Though, she was even more disappointed to see that the profile barely held any viable information.

The information on it just stated that this 'Allison' used to work for ShinRa as an ethicist and a back-up Turk. It also stated that she went 'missing' many years ago. But it didn't state the reason why, or when it happened.

Her status is currently 'missing in action.' Chorale then looked at the date of the file and realized that this thing hasn't been updated in quite a while.

Sighing, she put the profile back into its folder and left the floor to go back to the lounge area again.

* * *

 **And that's it for now! (Goes back to watching tv again...)**


	11. Sneaking around

**Disclaimer: I do not own characters or setting. I own my OCs and this storyline.**

 **New school years are a blessing and a curse. Actually...more of a curse. It's good to be back again, I missed writing this. But I'm going to miss it more as the year goes on...yeah, it's gonna be really busy for me, but I'll try.**

 **I'm gonna try hard! Anyways, here's the new chapter...Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Disc 1 (The ShinRa Building): Sneaking around**

The climb was long and horrendously overwhelming. The first few flights were alright. It was just another stroll in the park. Once they got to level 39, that's when the park turned into an uphill marathon.

Zack, who was in the lead before, has slowed down to the back of the line, panting. Barret kept his pace nice and evenly, making sure that he isn't exerting too much energy. Though his face is already beet red against his dark skin.

Cloud made several frequent stops at the top of each flight. He always leaned against the way to catch his breath for a minute or two before continuing on.

Surprisingly, Tifa, the only female of the group, managed to stay in the lead. She constantly scowls at the men for their incompetence and nags them to keep on going. By the time, they've reached floor 58, Barret was slumped against the steps, forcing them to stop again.

Cloud's face became so red, that no one would suspect him of having pale skin in the first place. Zack had sweat enough sweat to fill two whole buckets. Only Tifa looked absolutely fine, other than the fact that her hair is a mess by now and her cheeks are also flushed.

This time, they had to wait for about five minutes before Tifa came down and gave Barret a kick to his rear end.

He immediately gets to his feet to avoid the martial artist's skilled kick again. Zack and Cloud dashed up the final flight, out of fear that they might receive the same treatment soon if they don't start moving.

Finally, they reached their destination. In front of them, the stairs end at the large door with bold numbers labeled beside it. The number was '59.' Barret smiled and did a weak victory cheer for himself.

"Finally...m—made it...n—never wanna see...stairs for the rest o' of my life..." He panted as he put his hands on his knees.

Tifa smiled, returning to her old usual composure again.

"Huff...puff...this really takes it outta you...but this is it! We'd better get ready!" She exclaimed.

Zack and Cloud gave her a tired thumbs up with their heads down. Before they knew it, Barret opened the door to the floor and they entered the bright shiny halls of floor 59. The whole area was rather plain and simple, it certainly looks like a place where anybody would be working at. There no offices around anywhere. Still, it was a part of the ShinRa building, and that means that there would guards on this floor.

Like the two guards right in front of them...

They were alarmed upon seeing Avalanche suddenly appear from behind the doors of the stairwell. The two guards stood in front of the elevator that led to the next floor. They immediately pointed the ends of their guns towards the heads of Barret and Cloud, who were at the front of the group. The first guard yelled.

"They're not workers here! Destroy the intruders!" He fired several bullets at them.

Luckily, Barret closed the door just in time to avoid being shot at. He glanced at the Cloud, Tifa, and Zack, and nodded, exchanging smirks.

On three, Barret opened the door again and Cloud blocked the oncoming bullets with his Buster Sword, shielding Tifa and Zack. They rushed towards the guards, quickly dealing with one of each.

Tifa knocked the left guard unconscious, while Zack smashed the right one against the wall, also rendering him useless. Barret quickly picked up the two grunts by their collars and threw them into a nearby broom closet that was left unlocked.

He dusted his hands away as if he participated in the toxic waste cleanup group. Zack looked around the area, trying to remember where they are exactly.

His memory flies back to him.

"Alrighty guys, on the next floor, we're going to have to extra sneaky. I know how they place their guards on the 60th floor. If you want to sneak around them, then you're gonna want to listen to me." He explained.

Cloud nodded. "Alright. But umm, Zack?" He was a bit nervous when asking.

Zack looked at him. "What?"

"Here, I've been wanting to give this to you for awhile...after you told me the true story...I just didn't have the chance to..." Cloud explained.

He unhooked the Buster sword from his back and handed it back to Zack with both hands. A look of guilt and shame was on his face as he presented the large weapon back to its rightful owner. Zack took it breathlessly. He smiled.

"Thanks, Cloud. Hmmm, I don't see any wear, tear, or dust on this...you did a great job with this sword!" Zack grinned. "Here, have this one. It was a gift from the man who saved my life. A real beauty of a sword."

Cloud gladly accepted the long curved sword from Zack's hands and shone it in the bright lights of the halls. He looked at it in awe.

"Thank you so much, Zack..." Cloud replied.

Tifa and Barret interrupted this little scene. "That's great guys! Now come on, we have to go upstairs." Barret said.

"Right, we need to make sure Aeris is safe." Tifa reminded them.

Zack and Cloud put their swords away, nodding. Zack then noticed something on the floor before the elevators. It was hand sized and shiny. It was a keycard that said the floor, '60.' He went up to the elevator and pressed the button to open its doors. Going inside, they realize that the other side of the elevator was made of glass and rounded, allowing them to see the outside view of Midgar from the side of the ShinRa building.

Barret's jaw dropped from the massive height. Zack turned around to insert the card into its slot and the elevator began to move up to the next floor.

* * *

They all emerged on floor 60, quietly running towards one of the large empty offices to avoid being seen by the nearby security guards. They were all positioned in front of several large golden statues and were alternating their positions every few seconds.

Zack looked out from the tiny slit in the slightly opened door of the office they were all gathered in. He looked to his friends.

"Look here, we're going to go _one at a time_." Zack exaggerated the enunciation of the last few words. "Only move when the guards are moving to new positions, they won't see you this way. Stick close to the statues for cover understand?"

Tifa nodded. "We got it, Zack. You go, and be sure to signal us for when we need to move as well." She told him.

Zack opened the door a little more and peeked outside. He sees the guards, standing on the other side of the golden sculptures, looking sharp.

 _Three, two, one..._

The guards turned to face one another and switched their positions. As soon as that happened, Zack rushed forward while crouching low to the ground and hid behind the first sculpture. The guards stopped moving and stared straight ahead.

Zack was well hidden from their field of vision. He repeated the same process until he reached the large glowing sign at the center of the sculptures. This is when he turned back towards the direction where he came from.

Cloud prepared to exit from the office, also crouching low to the ground. On Zack's command, Cloud moved to the first sculpture, mimicking Zack's movements. Cloud was successful in getting to where Zack is.

Zack waved his hand for Barret to come out of the office. The larger man was deadly serious as he snuck from sculpture to sculpture, whenever Zack waved his hand to signal him to move.

Finally, Tifa left her post at the office door and expertly made her way over to the rest of Avalanche. They all turned around to face the other side of the sign, where they would have to sneak past two more guards to get to the stairwell in front of them.

Looking at the guards' movements, Zack realized that these two are moving at a much faster speed than the previous two. He nervously shuddered as he counted the seconds in between each time when the guards switched positions.

Taking a deep breath, Zack patiently waited for the guards to start moving before rushing over the third sculpture. He moved a little quicker this time. Looking behind him, he kept a careful eye on the two guards.

They moved, and so did Zack, who quietly slid from his position all the way to the opened door of the stairwell. He turned back around to signal Cloud to move.

It was a bit late, and Cloud was almost caught by the first guard. They all held their breaths and drew out their weapons as the guard looked about, pretty sure that he saw something.

But to their relief, he just shrugged and moved onto the switch positions with his partner. Cloud moved again and ran all the way to safety inside the stairwell.

Zack wiped some sweat off his forehead before guiding Barret and Tifa over, this time, more carefully.

* * *

Barret pumped a fist in the air as Tifa gave a high give to Zack and Cloud.

"Alright! We rock!" Barret cheered at a low volume.

"We made it past the first obstacle without much difficulty," Tifa remarked.

Zack nodded and began walking up the stairs to get to floor 61. He reminded everyone, "remember, we're here to rescue Aeris."

"Hell, I know that!" Barret assured.

* * *

Zack sighed in relief to see that the door to level 61 was left open. Whether it was an accident or left on purpose, Zack thanked the fates for being in their favour.

He pushed the door wide open to make way for the rest of his friends behind him. They walked into the large air conditioned lounge room with caution. Luckily, nobody here seemed to know that they didn't belong here.

There were only a few employees around, and they were all sitting at tables or on the couches. All of them were preoccupied with whatever work they needed to get done, therefore, none of them bothered to look up at the people who just entered the floor.

Cloud walked up next to Zack.

"Hey, Zack. Do you know how to get to the higher floors from here? I mean, I'm starting to remember how this building functions, but you probably know more than me."

"Well, I know for a fact that we're going to need keycards in order to get to the floors above here...just don't know where" Zack admitted.

The door to a smaller, more private room in the corner of the lounge opened. Chorale exited the room, carrying Allie on her back. She gasped and smiled upon seeing Avalanche in front of her.

Tifa immediately rushed forward, giving her an embrace. Zack, Cloud, and Barret followed up behind.

"I'm so glad you're all here! Listen, from what I've heard while waiting for you guys, ShinRa's got Aeris in the science department's specimen floor. I don't exactly know where it is, but I do have the keycards which you need to access floors above." Chorale explained.

She hands out several keycards from her pocket and gives them Cloud and Zack. Zack looks at her curiously.

"How did you get all of these? Did you steal them? 'Cause I know that the Chorale who I remember is a bit of a sneaky little thief." He said.

Chorale was appalled by this. She and the rest of Avalanche. Barret hits Zack on the shoulder.

"You know who she is? Why the hell didn't you tell her earlier?" He demanded.

Zack rubbed his shoulder, groaning from the punch.

"I didn't know for sure. But after spending more time with Chorale, I'm beginning to see the similarities. Not just physical appearance. She feels familiar. Her presence...is comforting."

"Do you know of her relationship with Heidegger?" Chorale asked.

Tifa wrinkled her face. "Heidegger?"

Zack nodded, "He was her guardian, or at least that's what everyone else said. It was hard to believe that someone like him could be so...gentle with a lil' kid."

Barret leaned forward, clearly interested in this conversation.

"So what does that make Chorale? Is she the same as the one you're telling us about?"

"I don't know. And that's where I must draw the line. I can't say anything else unless I know for a fact that you, Chorale, is the Chorale from ShinRa." Zack replied.

Chorale stared at her friends intently.

"And what if I am? Will you guys reject me? Because I'm in close relations with ShinRa?" She asked.

Everyone became silent as soon as the question was asked. Tifa looked into the distance, not wanting to a part of this conversation anymore. Cloud pursed his lips, afraid that he might say the wrong answer.

Zack and Barret both thought hard and deep. Finally, Barret sighed. He looked at Chorale in the eye.

"Well, considering that Avalanche is currently made up of a man who used to work in a ShinRa reactor. And a girl who was once the guide for a ShinRa cleanup team in Niblheim. And not to mention also two fugitives that are wanted by ShinRa due to being witnesses of the Niblheim fire...how bad could you be?" Barret shrugged his shoulders.

That's when Tifa, Cloud, and Zack all perked up and smiled. They punched Barret on the arm for chastising them on how they used to support ShinRa. Chorale smiled and put her arms behind her back.

"Thank you. You guys really are heroes..."

* * *

Avalanche exited from the elevator on the 62nd floor, Chorale pointed at the rooms ahead of her.

"While, I was waiting for you guys to arrive, I came here on my own and found that each of these large rooms here." She pointed to the first one right in front of her. "Are special libraries that hold files for each department."

"That's cool. Did you find anything related to your ties with ShinRa in there?" Cloud asked.

Chorale nodded, "What Zack said is probably true. Heidegger may be my guardian, I don't know how to explain it, but I feel like I've known him for a long time."

Zack threw back his head and lightly laughed.

"I sure hope that's true. It'd be like old times again! With you constantly pouring buckets of ice water over my head! Ha, ha!"

Tifa walked towards the end of the hall where a closed door was located. She turned around to shush Zack.

"Guys! There could be someone in there!" She whispered through clenched teeth.

They all quietly walked up to the door, Cloud made the final decision. With a sigh, he reached for the door knob.

"Well, it's the only way to check if anyone is in there. Prepare for anything guys."

The door was pushed all the way open, revealing the fancy little office on the other side. It was simple, but a bit messy and lacked personality. A single man stood by a large desk.

He was older than the group and looked very drunk. Very drunk and confused. He turned around as soon as he heard the door open. Another younger man stood by the doorway and took a step back when it opened.

"Umm, hello. How do you do? This is the Mayor of Midgar's office. Mayor Domino that is. My name is Hart, and I am the Deputy Mayor. If you should have any questions, feel free to ask me," Hart greeted.

Tifa nodded in appreciation. Cloud went up Mayor Domino himself. The Mayor squinted his eyes at the group of terrorists before him.

"Hmmm? And who might you be? Oh...you must be those people...yeah I heard of you guys. Eh! What are you doing in a place like this?"

Cloud scratched his head, "Umm. Mayor Domino? Aren't you even a little concerned about us being in the ShinRa building? Aren't you gonna, like, report us?"

Mayor Domino put his hand on his desk and laughed.

"'Mayor?' I'm only Mayor in the name. The whole city is run by ShinRa Inc. My only job is to watch over their documents! Like a librarian! So why should I report you? That'll be beneficial to ShinRa, and I'm not giving them anything!"

"So you're not going to hand us over? Am I right?" Barret confirmed.

Mayor Domino nodded, "I suppose that you want to get to the higher levels, correct?"

"Yeah, but we already have keycards available. So we won't have much trouble from here on out," Chorale explained.

Zack pushed Cloud out of the way, to get closer to the Mayor.

"Mayor Domino, do you know anything about a recently captured 'Ancient girl?'" He quickly asked.

"'Ancient girl?' Couldn't say I have...let me check these files..." Turning around, he takes out a pile of neatly organized folders and scans through each of them before finding the one he's looking for.

"Ah ha! Yes! This report says that 'during the operation of Sector 7, the classified Ancient specimen was finally captured by the Department of Administrative Affairs. It is currently being held in the specimen's floor, in level 67.'"

Zack pasted that into his memory before thanking the Mayor.

"Well guys, let's go."

The entire group left the Mayor's office and towards the stairwell, where they proceeded to the next floor.

* * *

 _Floor 66..._

Cloud and co. emerged from the stairs into the carpeted hall of floor 66. There were several rooms dividing up this floor, but the most prominent one is the largest in the middle.

There were a few people here and there, mainly secretaries, rushing to carry several files for their superiors. One young woman walked right past the odd-looking Avalanche group, completely unaware of their dangerous presence.

She sorted a folder of documents as she walked down the hall, muttering to herself over the pros and cons of being a secretary. Further down the fall, some other workers shared their thoughts on the topic of the current conference meeting.

"Hey, when you're in the bathroom, do you ever hear whispers coming from somewhere?" The first man asked.

"Yeah, sure. It's a good place to eavesdrop, anyways, they're having another conference meeting. You think it's about the Plate incident?" The second man wondered.

Overhearing their conversation, Cloud and Zack steered their group towards the direction of the restrooms. They were located just around the corner, on the other side of the meeting room. The washroom was small but clean.

Nobody was in there except for Avalanche. Zack pressed his ear against the side of the wall, intently listening.

"Mmmmmm...I don't hear anything. Could those guys be lying?"

Cloud shook his head, "That's strange, I can hear some sounds. Can't you?"

"It's coming from up there..." Tifa pointed out.

A small air vent hung on the ceiling above a toilet stall. Cloud stood on top of the toilet and jumped, opening the vent. Voices from the meeting carried out from inside.

"That's it! Think we can all fit inside?" Barret asked.

Cloud shrugged his shoulders, "How 'bout just three of us?" He suggested.

"Fine by me," Zack agreed.

So it was decided, Cloud, Zack, and Barret all squeezed up into the tiny air vent. Inside the dark shaft, they crawled towards the source of the voices, which was a grate that overlooked the ceiling of the conference room.

The three men crowded around it, listening to the meeting.

Reeve was the first to stand up. He carried several papers in his hand and cleared his throat.

"We have the damage estimates for Sector 7. Considering all those factories that we already set up and all the investments, the damage is estimated to be approximately 10 billion gil...The estimated cost to rebuilt Sector 7 is—"

"We're not rebuilding," the President flatly said.

Reeve looked at him incredulously, but was silenced. The meeting continued on about restarting some Neo-Midgar plan, and something about the Promised Land. Suddenly, the door opened and a man in a white lab coat with long gray hair entered the room.

The President nodded in his direction. "Hojo, how's the girl?"

Zack and Cloud twitched violently at the sight of the professor of the science department. It was obvious the next topic was going to be about Aeris. Hojo shook his head at the President.

"As a specimen, she is inferior to her mother. I'm still in the process of comparing her to her mother, Ifalna, but for now the difference is 18%," the scientist explained.

Zack growled in anger at the way Aeris was being described. To them, she isn't a human being.

Hojo and the President discussed some things over the length of the whole project, and how they plan on using Aeris to their advantage. Shortly after that the President concludes the meeting. Heidegger quickly calls out.

"Hold on. President, I was told by two of my Turks, Rude and Reno, that they encountered Chorale."

The President's face went pale, but he kept most of his composure.

"Heidegger, you know that she's gone. It's just that you and the Turks were so attached to her back then that you're probably just seeing things. Maybe Tseng will suddenly start seeing Allison whenever he looks at Scarlet!"

Heidegger did not laugh, instead he walked past the President and towards the door.

"Don't tell me to let go. I loved those girls like they were my own...and unlike you, I trust my Turks. If they said that they saw her. They saw her."

* * *

 **Finally! It's finished! Grade 11 is already looking like a tough year! I got a quiz on the second day of school! The second day! So I'm going to have to postpone many chapters until I get a break. :(**

 **Anyways, please like, review, and follow! Thanks for reading!**


	12. Rescuing the Ancient Specimen

**I do not own Final Fantasy 7, I am using its content to create my own fiction. Please enjoy!**

 **It's been awhile people! I got lotsa school work lately, especially with midterms coming up and everything! I literally finished this whole chapter within a single night! Whew I didn't think I had it in me! (Maybe it's because of the music I was listening to in the background while typing...)**

 **Anyways, please favourite, follow, and REVIEW people! (Ok? :D)**

* * *

 **Disc 1 (The ShinRa Building): Rescuing the Ancient Specimen**

The three men quickly made their way back out of the air vent and regroups with the rest of their teammates. Zack was the first to rush out the washroom door.

"Hurry guys! If we follow Hojo, he'll most likely lead us to Aeris!" He cried.

Avalanche quietly rushed into the hallway that divided the conference room from the rest of the floor. As they neared the end of hall, they peeked around the corner to make sure all the people from the meeting have left.

Cloud looked to the left and to the right. Nobody suspicious was around so they continued down the hall and past the conference room.

At the end of the conference room, around the corner, Zack and Barret barely caught a glimpse of the ShinRa scientist disappear behind the door that led to their final destination, the specimens floor.

Cloud exhaled in awe.

"Hojo...the guy in charge of the Science department. I know that I probably seen or been around him during my time as an infantryman here, but honestly, I don't remember how he looked like at all until now."

"It's fine, Cloud. He doesn't deserve to be in your memories," Zack assured.

"More like he doesn't deserve to be in this world," Chorale suddenly added.

Tifa looked at her incredulously. "You remember Hojo?"

Chorale nodded. "Being in this place is triggering lots of memories. I can remember my hatred for that crazy-eyed scientist dude when I was probably a kid, but I can't remember the reason why."

"Well considering how horrible that guy is, you probably don't need to do a lot of digging just to find out why," Barret said as he stood up from crouching and walked towards the door of the staircase leading to level 67.

As they got to the door, Chorale gave Barret the necessary keycard. But nothing happened.

Zack got impatient. "What's going on? Open the door!"

Barret glared at him with an equal amount of impatience. "If I could, I would already have, wouldn't I? The fucking keycard doesn't work!"

"It probably did and you didn't twist the door handle enough. Let me try," Zack pushed Barret out of the way.

But to his surprise. The door wouldn't budge. Zack tried pushing on it with more force, but the door still wouldn't give in. After a few more tries, with Cloud and Barret both backing him up, Zack prepared himself.

"Alright, if this door won't open. I'll bust it open!"

Chorale one-handedly grabbed Zack's arm before it could take a swing.

"Are you crazy? This is a higher up floor! It's probably jam packed with security systems! There's probably an alarm just waiting to be set off if any damage is done to this door!"

Tifa nervously looked around. "Not mention the surveillance cameras. We shouldn't draw so much attention to ourselves, though we're pretty lucky it's late and not a lot of employees are around right now."

Chorale looked directly at Zack. "I know a way to open this door. This only happens whenever there's something really valuable on the upper floors. Reeve kind of told me about it before you guys arrived. If I could get to the surveillance room on floor 60 and dispose of the guard on duty, then I could probably unlock the doors from there. Give me two minutes, I'll have it opened."

Cloud throws a cell phone at her before she left. "Use that to talk to us if you need to. Because Zack probably won't wait for you after the door's unlocked."

"Understandable. I'll keep on eye on things from that room. You guys focus on rescuing Aeris and then getting out of here."

With that, Chorale and Allie disappeared down the set of stairs that descended down to floor 60.

* * *

 _Two minutes later..._

Ding! The sound of the door unlocking satisfied a very anxious Zack.

"Aw yeah! Lets go guys!"

Barret smiled as he shook his head. There were times when he wanted to wring this impulsive SOLDIER's neck. But then there were times like this, when he can't help but laugh at his childish personality.

The remaining Avalanche members ran up the flight of stairs and entered the grey hallways of floor 67. It was mostly comprised of metal and steel, and illuminated with bright white lights. There was no carpets anywhere. It gave off a very uncomfortable aura.

Down the hallway, just a few feet in front of them was a man dressed in a dark blue suit. He held a clipboard and a pen, as they shifted closer behind the man, Cloud could hear him saying something about 'delivering Hojo's new specimen.'

Zack also overheard him and tightened his fists. Cloud puts an assuring hand on his friend's shoulder, cooling him down a bit. Zack relaxed as the man in the suit entered a large metal door that slid open for him before sliding shut.

"In there. That's probably where they keep their most valuable specimens," Zack pointed out.

"Then we're going in there," Tifa agreed.

All four members of Avalanche ran towards the metal door, which immediately opened as they came into close proximity with it. Inside, it smelled of a kinds of odd aromas. It was a mix of medical supplies with animal fur and formaldehyde.

The man was nowhere to be found so Avalanche relaxed and scanned around. The whole area was like one big warehouse with all kinds of equipment and technology around it. There were large tubes filled with samples that looked very dead. And dissection tables that still had some remains of previous experiments on it.

The sight of the insides of living creatures was enough to make Tifa feel nauseous. Cloud felt the same way too, but he was much more severe. He turned around and covered his mouth with hand while quickly leaning arm on the closest intact object he could get to.

It was a large metal dome with a small plastic window to look at the specimen that was being preserved inside. Cloud suddenly looked through the window and saw a terrifying blue headless creature.

He jumped back, bumping and knocking Tifa to the floor, and startling Zack and Barret. He immediately helped Tifa up and Zack asked what happened.

Pointing at the dome, Zack rushed over and looked inside. "Jenova...so that's where they kept it..."

Barret tilted his head to the side. "Jeno-who?"

"Never mind, it's uh...complicated. I promise I'll explain everything later. For now—hide!" Zack ducked behind the pile of crates next to the dome and everybody squeezed in with him.

Hojo and the man in the suit suddenly appeared from nowhere and walked up to the large glass elevator with a red and fierce looking dog-like creature being contained in it. Hojo passionately touched the glassy surface, causing the creature to back up and growl. Tifa shook at the way the scientist treats living creatures.

Hojo nodded to the man. "Bring it up to the second floor. Lets try out today's experiment."

With that, the two men disappeared behind the large pile of technological equipment. Avalanche comes out of hiding and Tifa gives a sympathetic look at the specimen trapped inside the glass elevator cage before they head over to the lift at the end of the room.

Activating the handle for the lift, they filed inside and Zack pressed the button to go up. On level 68, the gate of the lift opened, revealing a much more open room with some more advanced-looking equipment.

But what caught their attention—well mainly Zack's, was the sight of a young brunette woman lying on her side inside a replica of the glass elevator cage from the previous floor. Her pink attire was slightly worn and dirtied from all the activity she's recently been through.

"Aeris!" Zack cried.

The Ancient girl's eyes immediately fluttered open as she heard her name being called by her hero. She gets up from her side and runs over to the edge of the cage, pressing her hands to it.

"Zack! Guys! You all came!"

Cloud ran forward as he drew out his sword and held to Hojo's throat as Zack rushed to where Aeris was, pressing hand where hers was. Barret also put the scientist at gunpoint. Tifa grabbed his arms and brought him down to his knees, Cloud and Barret never leaving their positions.

Hojo did not seem to be fazed by this act of intimidation at all. The man in the suit on the level above seemed a little worried though, but as he reached for a walkie-talkie, Barret aimed his gun at him, causing the man to drop everything he's carrying.

"Aeris, hmm? So that's her name. What do you guys want?" Hojo calmed asked.

Zack walked up to the scientist and Tifa held him so he could face the SOLDIER first class. Zack grabbed Hojo by the collar and glared.

"Release Aeris. And maybe I'll give you a quick death." Zack threatened.

"Sigh. There's just so many frivolous things in this world. Oh, and I hope you won't kill me at all. I mean who could control all this equipment without me around? Hmm?" Hojo challenged.

"What you so of a—" Barret began.

"Computer! Bring up the species from the lower level!" Hojo suddenly shouted into a large mouthpiece next the glass elevator. "Command done. Bringing up species from lower level."

A small hole suddenly opened up next to Aeris and the sound of machinery could be heard turning. Suddenly, the red creature from down below risen and appeared next to Aeris. She immediately scrambled back, terrified of what it would do to her.

"What is this!?" She cried in shock.

In his anger, Zack brought his Buster sword and struck at the glass barrier. Barret did the same with his gun, after firing a few rounds, the glass began to give way and shatter.

Hojo cried out. "What do you think you're doing? My experiment was to breed those two endangered species! They're on the brink of extinction!"

"How dare you! Aeris is a human being!" Tifa countered, tightening her grip. Hojo cried out in pain.

Zack calmly walked forward. "Tifa...let him go. Trust me."

Tifa was shocked at first, but did Zack said. Hojo ran forward towards the ruins and dust of the destroyed cage. Suddenly, the red creature from before lashed out and attacked the scientist. At the same time, Aeris jumped out and into Zack's arms.

"I knew you'd come," she whispered.

Their reunion was cut short when Hojo suddenly took out a taser and shocked the red creature off of him. The scientist was covered in cuts and bruises all over, but was still able to move.

"That is _pant_ ferocious _pant_ specimen..." He remarked.

The red creature backed up and turned around to face Cloud and the gang. From up close, they could see that the creature had a somewhat human appearance too. It had messy dark fur around its head like hair, and a braid on one side and a decorative feather to complete it. It wore bangles around its front legs and a flame burned brightly on the end of its tail.

To their surprise, it started speaking. "The scientist is quite dangerous. Let me help you," he said in a gentle yet deep masculine voice.

"It speaks?!" Tifa gasped.

"I can speak as much as the average human can. You can call me Red XIII," he explained.

Zack and Cloud drew out their swords. Zack looked especially dangerous. Aeris retreated back away from the battle due to having nothing to use for offense or defense.

"Thanks for the offer, Red XIII. We're going to need it to get rid of this guy!" Zack pointed at Hojo.

The scientist scowled as he looked around in panic and finally ran over to a large metal pole with a red button on it. Pushing the button, Hojo triggered the opening of several hidden cages on this floor. A few dangerous-looking specimens emerged as Hojo rushed out of the area.

Zack cried out loud as and Cloud charged forward, executing a planned out attack on the giant insectoid. Tifa and Barret focused on the smaller, but larger than normal beetles.

Barret shot each one of them in a row, never missing a shot. But most of the beetles weren't severely damaged by the bullets. As Barret was reloading, Tifa zooms and crushes each one of the bug's wings and front exoskeleton.

As Barret went into his second round, most of the beetles were falling over from the damage before Tifa delivered the final crushing blow to the underside of their bodies. Zack struck the front side of the giant insectoid in a unique pattern that caused it to fall back.

Cloud stabs it from the back to the front with his long sword. The giant insectoid manages to free itself from its impalement and attempt to lash out at Zack, who dodged out of the way.

The insectoid turned around to deal with Cloud instead and unleashed a spray of hot acidic liquid from its mouth, but Cloud was able to heal quickly with a restore materia. He then attacked with a fire materia, aiming at its soft belly.

Zack leapt down from above and finished it with one great cut down the middle that splits the giant insectoid in half. He looked down at the specimen's dead body sadly before walking away.

"It didn't deserve that. But it was better than being kept in Hojo's lab for the rest of its life," Zack reasoned.

"Yeah, I guess. But why's it weird that I feel bad?" Cloud asked.

Tifa walked up to him. "It's because those were victims of ShinRa's brutality. It's ok Cloud, they're free now."

"Just like how we're all going to be," Aeris said as she walked out of her hiding spot, smiling brightly.

They all returned her smile. Barret was the first to go up extend his intact hand to her. Aeris gently shook it.

"Barret Wallace. My daughter Marlene was rescued by you. And because of your service, I'll always be in your debt."

"Aeris Gainsborough, thank you. I'm honoured," Aeris replied.

Aeris went up to Tifa, who took both of her hands firmly. "I'm so glad that you're ok. We were so scared of what they could've done to you."

"I'm alright, really. Now I'm the one who's going to be in your debt."

"Not if you keep going out of your way and get yourself into situations like this over and over again," Cloud sarcastically said.

Aeris rolled her eyes before wrapping her arms around Zack once again. He twirled her around before putting her down again.

"Aeris...I'm sorry that our reunions are always so short. I'm sorry for everything I've put you through..." Zack said.

"Now's not the time for apologizing. We need to leave. Then you can apologize to me!" Aeris scolded.

Zack smirked, "Right."

* * *

The whole Avalanche crew, now including Aeris and Red XIII, walked out of the laboratory and down the hallway towards the elevator that luckily, only required a keycard. Before pushing the button for the elevator, Cloud suggested breaking up the group.

"It'll be safer this way. We won't easily be noticed on the way down to pick Chorale up. What do you say?"

Barret nodded. "Alright, how about if I go with two people and the remaining three takes the elevator?"

"Sounds good to me. Aeris, you're staying right?" Zack asked.

Aeris nodded. "Where is Chorale? Is she ok?"

"Who is this Chorale?" Red XIII asked out of curiosity.

"Another one of our friends. And she's on the 60th floor right now, she's keeping on eye from the surveillance room," Tifa explained. "By the way Barret, I'll be joining you."

"Then that means I'm coming too," Cloud said.

"Alright, then that makes me, Aeris, and Red XIII," Zack went over.

Barret agreed. "We'll meet you down on floor 60. But we'll wait until you guys board the elevator, just for safety measures."

"Ok."

Zack pressed the elevator button. The little digital number at the top of the elevator gradually increased until it was almost 67. When the number reached floor 60, Cloud's cell phone suddenly rang.

"Huh? Hello?" Cloud flipped open his phone and answered.

"Cloud? It's me Chorale, listen I see you guys on the security camera! You're on the floor 67 aren't you?" She asked, sounding a bit desperate.

"Yeah, what's the matter?" Cloud asked.

The number reached floor 65.

"Listen! Whatever you do, don't get on the elevator! There's Turks—"

Ding! The elevator doors opened and two Turks, Tseng and Rude appeared. Rude, who was closest to Aeris, grabbed her and put her at gunpoint. Causing all of Avalanche to draw their weapons. Tseng pointed his gun at Zack.

"Don't do anything stupid. Please...I beg of you..." Tseng stoically said.

Quivering in anger, Zack looked at Aeris' wavering eyes, full of fear from the barrel that was being pressed against the side of her temple. He looked at the rest of Avalanche.

Tifa had beads of sweat dripping from her forehead as she tried to keep her tough composure together. Barret's gun arm was wavering as he tried to decide whether or not lower it. Red XIII was slightly pacing back and forth, unable to make the final decision to leap forward and grab Tseng's leg.

None of them knew what to do, they were unsure of attacking their enemies. Reluctantly, Zack dropped his Buster sword and raised his arms. Aeris looked apologetically at all of them before lowering her head. Tifa remained neutral, Barret lowered his gun arm, and Red XIII sat down.

Cloud slowly ended his call with Chorale, making sure that the Turks won't be able to know where she was if they were going to confiscate all their belongings. Tseng and Rude carefully handcuffed all the members of Avalanche and forced them into the elevator, where they planned to show them to the president.

In the surveillance room, Chorale flipped her phone shut as she viewed from the camera screen, her friends getting taken away by the Turks. All because she wasn't fast enough to warn them.

"Damn it! Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it!" She cried out on frustration.

Grabbing Allie and putting her into the carrier on her back, she turned around to stuff the original guard that was in room, into the back closet so that no one would find him knocked out. Opening the door, she looked around to see if anyone was about.

No one was there, so she quickly ran towards the door of the stairway, unlocking it with her keycard. She had to get to find out where her friends were being held first and then find a way to get all of them out, then they would finally leave this building.

"Hang on guys...I'm coming to get you."

* * *

 **Welll? What do you guys think? Please leave comments if you have any suggestions for improving the story (but not on how the story is going to go, I kind of already have everything laid out, but I'll still think about it).**

 **Thanks for reading! Again, favourite, follow, REVIEW! Peace out!**


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